


Last Holiday

by code87, Some Like It Fat (code87)



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Affairs, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Belly Kink, Burping, Comfort Food, Comfort Sex, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Farting, Fate & Destiny, Food Kink, Forbidden Love, Gluttony, Happy ending for every one, High heel face turn, Soulmates, Terminal Illnesses, Utopia, Weight Gain, Weight Gain Kink, Weight Issues, fat kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:41:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 54,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29555097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/code87/pseuds/code87, https://archiveofourown.org/users/code87/pseuds/Some%20Like%20It%20Fat
Summary: Sequel to the story "Unfinished Business " on fanfiction.net, which can be found here: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12286747/1/Unfinished-Business. Written with the permission of supercode. Also inspired by many stories on this site involving soulmates.Isabel Rochev once claimed that Robert Queen was her soulmate when he was alive. Now, after a recently resurrected, but once again dying,  Robert Queen has secured his family's company,  and their lives,  by making a devil's bargain with his former mistress,  the eldest member of the Queen family faces an uncertain future, and forced "Last Holiday " with Isabel.  But will the woman who once conspired to destroy his family prove to be Robert Queen's destruction,  or his salvation? And will the two old lover's last holiday together broaden both of their horizons, in more ways than one, as they discover they just might be soulmates after all?Or "The one weird Arrow story where Robert Queen's former mistress turns out to be his soulmate after all, and they have a fat, happy life together. "
Relationships: Moira Queen/Walter Steele, Nyssa al Ghul/Laurel Lance, Robert Queen/Isabel Rochev, Roy Harper/Thea Queen, Sara Lance/Oliver Queen
Comments: 6
Kudos: 1





	Last Holiday

**Author's Note:**

> Another idea that just wouldn't leave me alone, to conclude a story where i just couldn't stand to see two of the major characters in one of my favorite fandoms not have a happy ending. I'm sentimental that way. Oh, and the story this is a sequel, of sorts, to is pretty good. I think. Give it a read, if you want. Especially if you want more context to the story. Just know it doesn't contain any of the kinks in this story. 
> 
> Also, I just want it noted that i don't personally condone cheating, but I still wanted to see Robert and Isabel have a happy ending, anyway. And I don't divide people into saints and monsters in my mind, since nobody's perfect, or (I believe) beyond redemption. Besides, all these soulmate stories on this site do make me think: if soulmates were real (which I personally rather doubt) what would be the moral implications of that? What if someone found " the One " after they were already married, and what would the best course of action be then? And how grave could the consequences be for intentionally breaking a soulmate's heart, even for the sake of other obligations? So yeah, fun little ideas for a story with a happy ending.

Robert Queen sighed as he laid his head against the plane window next to his first class seat, which was in the only occupied row of the expensive flight to his and his traveling companion's exotic destination. The old man's thoughts dwelled on his fear, concerning his upcoming demise in the near future due to his unusual neurological condition, and his guilt, for leaving his adult children behind in Starling City, even if he had done so to secure Queen Consolidated for Oliver, and the Verdant for Thea. Robert was also thinking about all of the conflicting feelings he felt for the brunette sitting next to him, and if, and how, he could help his clearly unbalanced ex-mistress, who had coerced him into running away with her, for real this time, with her mental state, and undo some of the damage he had done to Isabel Rochev. At that moment, said brunette finally looked up from the book she had been reading to speak to Robert about an hour into the flight. It was only after the gray-haired man looked at Isabel to hear what she was about to say, that Robert noticed that she was reading “The Odyssey”, a book he had recommended to Isabel years ago.

Isabel smiled when she saw Robert's gaze turn to the book in her hands. “I've probably read this a dozen times. It's my favorite book. Mostly because it reminds me of you every time I read it.”

When Robert just nodded in reply, Isabel sighed and whispered. “Robert, do you really hate me so much that you won't even talk to me now? I realize now that I shouldn't have sided with Slade...”

Robert sighed and shook his head, but his gaze was focused directly on Isabel's hazel eyes as he said. “I don't want to talk about that right now.”

Isabel seemed to deflate before Robert's eyes. The woman sighed heavily, her shoulders slumped, and she cast her eyes downward in regret, making the Queen patriarch sorry for the tone he had just taken with Isabel, no matter how justified he knew his anger for her was, so the man added. “For the record, Isabel, I don't hate you. I'm very angry with you, and we can talk about the numerous reasons why that is later, but I don't hate you.”

Isabel perked up, just a little, at Robert's words, as the woman allowed herself a half smile as she looked at her old lover. “I can live with that, at least for now. I'm glad you don't hate me. I still love you so much, and...I don't know what I would do if I thought you hated me.”

Robert rubbed his hand across his forehead. “Let's just...talk about something else. For example, why are we going to Tahiti?”

Isabel's gaze immediately drifted to her left. “I told you, it's a surprise. I think you'll like Tahiti though. I've been told it's a magical place!”

Robert nodded. “Okay, but I will expect you to tell me why you picked that destination when we land.”

The old man then took a good look at Isabel's body for the first time since his return to Starling, since he had purposefully not paid attention to the brunette more than he had to when he had sex in the dark with his old mistress when she had been under the influence of Mirakuru. That act had been a “down payment” for Isabel taking the cure for that serum, then helping the Queen family and their loved ones. That had not been Robert's proudest moment, as he had felt he had taken sexual advantage of Isabel when she had been under the influence of a powerful serum. However, now that Robert really let himself see how thin Isabel had become since she had last been his intern, the Queen patriarch shook his head. “You've lost weight since you worked for me.”

Isabel smirked as she whispered. “For you. Under you. On top of you. Whatever way you wanted, wherever you wanted it....And I'm still willing to do that for you, if you want. We can even sneak into the lavatory together right now, and join the mile-high club. No one will object.” Isabel winked. “That's one of the advantages of having my own private jet!”

Robert hesitated for several seconds, and then shook his head. “I think I'll pass.”

Isabel sighed and whispered. “Have it your way. I won't coerce you into sex...again. I'm sorry and not sorry about last night. I'm not sorry we were together, but I'm sorry I forced you into it. I was high on Mirakuru at the time, but still..”

Robert shot Isabel a half-smile. “You were under the influence of a powerful drug. That was Slade Wilson's fault, not yours. I may be angry with you about a great many things, Miss Rochev, but last night is not one of them. If anything, I felt like I was taking advantage of you last night by sleeping with you when you were under the influence of Mirakuru. ”

Isabel smiled as she let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding in, then said. “Thank you. But you could never take advantage of me sexually, Robert. Because no matter my state of mind, I will never deny you.”

Robert Queen blushed as Isabel kept speaking.“ And I've lost thirty pounds. It wasn't easy, but after...you left, I realized I was never going to make it in business as a chubby girl, so I gave up junk food entirely, and started working out one hour every day. Add Slade's training into the mix, and, well...you can see the results for yourself. Do you like what you see?!”

After carefully weighing the pros and cons of being honest, Robert shrugged. “ You weren't chubby, you were voluptuous. There's a difference. And honestly? I'm a little worried, because it looks like you haven't been eating enough lately.”

Isabel frowned. “Really? I though that you would like me better without all that flab.”

Robert raised his eyebrows. “They're called curves, Isabel. And I liked them on you. For whatever it's worth though, you look...good either way. I just don't want you to become anorexic or anything.”

Isabel smiled. “So you do still care about me. Enough to worry for me, anyway.'

Robert nodded. “Far more than I should, given the things you've done to my family. But yes, Isabel, I do still care for you. ”

Over a minute of awkward silence passed between Isabel and Robert, before the former intern smiled and said. “I'll gain the weight back then, if that will make you happy! Do you think they have fast food in Tahiti? If I stop exercising, and start eating junk food again, I'll pack those 30 pounds back on in no time!”

Robert Queen shook his head. “I couldn't ask you to do that, Isabel. It's your body, and I'm not going to make you change it for me. Especially not when I'm dy...”

Isabel wouldn't even let Robert finish that last sentence. “You didn't ask me to do anything. I want to make you happy, so I'm choosing to gain weight again. Besides, keeping the pounds off hasn't been easy, and it'll be nice to be able to eat whatever I want. Just tell me If I start looking fat, so I can cut back then. Unless you're into fat girls, of course. Then I'll become the fattest woman on Earth, if that will make you happy. Or maybe you want me to have an Amazonian build instead. I could always pump iron while I'm packing the pounds back on...”

Robert shook his head. “Like I said, do whatever you want. It's your body.”

Isabel nodded. “I know. I just...I want so badly to make you happy, Robert. And I will do literally anything to make that happen...except let you leave me again. I don't care if that's selfish. The day you fired me and sent me away, you didn't just hurt my career, you hurt me. After you promised me forever, then cut me off the very next day. You hurt me more than anyone else ever has, save Malcolm Merlyn, when he killed you. But I forgive you. No matter what you do to me, even if you cheat on me, or hurt me again, I will always forgive you. Because I love you that much. The only thing I will never do for you is let you go again. Because losing you one more time would kill me.”

Robert sighed. “Isabel... IF we got together again, I wouldn't cheat on you, and I certainly won't use my remaining time on Earth to hurt you again. But you're going to have to let me go soon, because I'm dying, and there's nothing I can do about it. However, and this is something I've wanted to tell you for a long time, I am sorry for the way I ended things between us the first time.”

Isabel nodded, on the verge of tears as she scowled at Robert. “Of course you are. After I took my anger for that decision out on your progeny. And Thea. And to a lesser extent, Moira.”

Robert sighed. “Fine, I guess we're talking about this now, after all. First of all, leave Moira out of it. She had nothing to do with why I left you. I wasn't lying, during our affair, when I told you I hadn't ever been in love with Moira. That I had only loved her as a friend, and she and I only ever married because we thought we had to at the time, after I got her pregnant with Oliver. I realized long ago that my ex-wife and I were incompatible. The only reason I broke up with you from afar , and stayed in Starling, instead of running away with you like I promised to, was that after Thea got hurt in that horse-riding accident I told you about, I realized I couldn't live without her and Oliver. And I knew...I believed, that Moira would get full custody of Thea if I divorced her.”

Isabel nodded. “Probably. I mean, since you aren't Thea's biological father, you had no legal rights, or responsibilities to...”

Robert put his head in his hands. “Have you ever been a parent, Isabel? Have you ever had a newborn girl placed in your arms, and told she's your daughter? I loved Thea from the first moment she drew breath. I was there when she took her first steps, when she said her first word. Her place in my heart is firmly cemented in stone. By the time I found out I wasn't her biological father...It didn't matter. Because I already loved her. In my heart, Thea will always be my daughter. And I could not abandon her, even for you.”

Isabel nodded and said. “I can't say I've ever been a parent, Robert. And if my upbringing, first in one of the worst orphanages in the world, then with the negligent couple who adopted me, are any indication of the kind of mother I'd be, I would say the world is better off if I never give birth myself. But I guess when you explain things like that..., I can sort of see why you still see Thea as your daughter. I can also almost understand why you left me so you could remain a part of her and Oliver’s lives, although I still don't like it. But you could have explained all of this to me years ago, Robert! You could have at least pretended that leaving me was a hard decision to make!”

Robert sighed. “It was one of the two hardest decisions I've ever made, Isabel. Right up there with choosing to appose Malcolm Merlyn's Undertaking.” Robert chuckled mirthlessly. “And you know where that got me.”

Isabel glared at Robert. “Don't even joke about that! When I saw the news headline that the Queen's Gambit sank, with you inside it...something inside me snapped that day. The news that you had died hurt me so much, that for days I could do nothing but lay down in my bed and cry. That was the single worst day of my life. Even worse than the day you broke up with me from afar and fired me from Queen Consolidated!”

Robert nodded. “Of course it was. Before I died, you probably imagined that I might change my mind and come back to you someday. Until the day I was gone, and you knew that would never happen.”

Isabel cried a little, then blew her nose with a tissue before she resumed speaking with a forced smile. “Never say never, because here your are. The thought had crossed my mind that you might come back to me , yes. You said yourself that you and I were soulmates, after all. But that wasn't the only reason your death hurt me. Before you died, I had hoped that, even though I couldn't be happy without you, that maybe at least you were happy in Starling City with your family. That you and Moira might have gotten the spark in your marriage at last, or that having your children around might have been enough for you to be happy. But then you died, and I knew you would never be happy again. Because you were dead. If you had run away with me, you would have never died in the first place, and I would have devoted my life to making you happy. But you choose to stay in Starling instead, with your family.”

Robert glared at Isabel and whispered. “So that was the reason you went after my family? Not because I left you, but because you blamed my family for my death?! Malcolm Merlyn killed me, Isabel! Not Moira, and certainly not Oliver or Thea!”

Isabel's head went down again, and she held her knees up as high as the airplane seat would allow her to. Robert couldn't help but see the resemblance between a fetal position and Isabel's body language as she cried harder. “I know! I understand that now, but at the time, after you died. I was sad. and alone, and hurt. And that pain became anger. Then anger turned to rage. And for years, all that rage, and sadness, and pain just festered inside me...until Slade Wilson found me. He had this...way with words. I can't explain it. But after talking to him, not knowing about Malcolm's part in sinking the Gambit at the time, it seemed so obvious to me that your family was to blame for your death. That Moira, Oliver, and Thea all deserved to be punished. Slade even promised me that if I joined him, and helped him get his revenge on your family, that all my pain would end. That I would finally be free to live my life unburdened by sadness or anger. Obviously, that was a lie. I see now that I was nothing more than a pawn to Slade, and that he never intended me to live past the night that he was going to destroy Starling City. Like I said before, joining Slade to take vengeance on your family was the wrong choice. I realize that now.” Isabel looked straight into Robert's gray eyes through her tear-stained hazel ones. ' And I truly am sorry that I made that choice. That I hurt the people you love.”

Robert sighed deeply, hesitated for several minutes while gazing out into the middle distance with a thoughtful look on his face, then wrapped his left arm around Isabel's arms and slim torso, an act which caused Isabel to stop her silent weeping. “I believe you. And I forgive you. For all of it. For siding with Slade. For trying to take the company and club away from my children. Even for forcing me to come with you on this trip for one last holiday with you. Everything.”

Isabel allowed herself a small smile, as a faint glimmer of happiness returned to her eyes while she put her feet back on the floor and her arms at her sides. “Really? You forgive me for all of that!? Just like that? Even for kissing you right in front of Oliver and Thea at the airport?”

Robert smirked. “I kissed you back, didn't I?”

After Isabel smiled fully and nodded, Robert shrugged. “ As far as that other stuff goes, I'm dying, Isabel. I've made enough mistakes in both my lives, and I don't want taking a grudge to the grave with me to be another. Besides, as much as I miss them already, my children are grown up now, and I've taken care of most of the threats to their wellbeing, I'm confident they can take care of themselves. My son is the Arrow, after all. It's clear to me now that you need me more than they do. To give you a chance to say goodbye to me, properly, this time, before I die.”

Isabel nodded slowly. “ I don't want to talk about you dying right now. But I have to ask...Why didn't you say goodbye to me, in person, when you broke off our affair six years ago? If you ever loved me, you should have at least sat me down and explained why you were breaking up with me. You owed me that much.”

Robert ran his fingers though his hair. “You're right when you say that I owed you an explanation I’m sorry I didn't give you one. But I was a coward, Isabel. I was afraid that if I tried to break up with you in person, that I wouldn't be able to go through with it, because I never have been able to say no to you. Then our affair would just go on and on, with me not leaving Moira for fear of losing Thea, and you slowly coming to resent me for it. That's why I had Walter fire you instead. But that isn't the whole story. After you were let go from Queen Consolidated, I had some...discreet individuals keep tabs on you, and watched over you from afar. I'm the one that got you that job in Coast City for Ferris Aircraft, right after I had you fired. I arranged for that man who kept harassing you for a week in the parking lot after work there to...disappear, after my people found out that man was a known sex offender. And that one month that you almost got kicked out of your apartment because you spent too much on clothes for the new dress code at Ferris Aircraft, until an extra $500 appeared in your bank account the day before rent was due? Also me.”

Isabel's eyes widened. “So you still loved me enough to watch out for me, even then? All that time, I was so angry with you! But you were keeping me safe, employed, and sheltered from afar?”

Robert nodded. “I know it seems far fetched, but yes.”

Isabel nodded back with a sad look in her eyes. “I believe you. And I forgive you for dumping me so abruptly . Also, I'm glad that you still loved me back then, even if you believed we couldn't be together.'

Robert had a far away look in his eyes, and said nothing for several seconds , before he finally replied. “Actually...up until the moment I died, I had a plan. The day after Thea's eighteenth birthday, if you were still single, and would still have me, I was going to leave Moira for you then. I had the whole thing planned out. Up until that day, I would do everything I could to make Thea love me as her father, so that even after I divorced her mother, and Moira told Thea about her parentage, my daughter would still love me and want to spend time with me. I was confident that Oliver, being the way he was with women back then, would eventually be able to forgive me for leaving his mother for you. And I would have a whole army of divorce lawyers ready to make sure that I got out of my first marriage with enough money that you and I could still have our happily ever after. But obviously, fate had other plans for both of us.”

Isabel grimaced. “Obviously. I wish you had told me all of this, Robert. Not that it excuses any of the horrible things I did to the people of Starling with Stelmoore International, or to your family, but...things would have been so much different, I would have been a lot less angry, if I knew you had still been planning to run away with me eventually.”

Robert nodded and sighed simultaneously. “I should have sent word to you about why I left you, and that I was planning to return to you. I see that now But…after I left you, the way I did, I wasn't sure I deserved you. I wanted to give you the chance to find someone better than me.”

Isabel shook her head and sighed as well. “ There has never been any man for me but you, Robert. You should have told me what you were planning! Still, I wish you had lived long enough to carry your plan out. I never seriously dated anyone after our affair ended, because you ruined me for other men, and I would have jumped at the chance to be with you again, even years later. Even if I had been married at the time, I would have left my husband, whoever that might have been, for you in a heartbeat. I know that's wrong. I know our affair was wrong, but I loved you, still love you, too much to care. That's why I’ve never been able to say no to you, either.”

Isabel smiled and added. “That, and the love notes you wrote me every week, even before our affair started, were so sweet, a woman would have to have a heart of stone not to fall in love with you! Honestly, they're the reason I decided to take a chance on dating you, even though you were my boss, and married, at the time.”

Robert smiled widely. “ I'm glad you liked them. I worked really hard on those notes. I was nervous every time I wrote one, to be honest, because I’d never written poetry to anyone before I met you. You made me work harder to earn your affections than any other woman, but I knew you were worth it, because…” Robert blushed…”Because I've wanted many women in my life Isabel, but I NEEDED you!”

Isabel smiled sadly. “And I needed you, Robert! From the first moment I laid eyes on you, I knew I needed you in my life. Even if my conscience told me those feelings were wrong. I knew I loved you from the first day we met at that staff meeting. And after reading your poems to me, my heart won out over my head. And even though you hurt me, even though our relationship began as an affair, I've never regretted what little time we had together. “

When the beverage cart came down the aisle, Robert and Isabel simultaneously breathed sighs of relief, then flagged down the stewardess to order a large, expensive bottle of red wine. After both of them had poured wine into their glasses and tasted the beverage, and the stewardess was far enough away, Robert turned to Isabel with a solemn look on his face. “I feel the same way. I regret that I had to cheat on Moira for us to be together. I regret that the fallout of our relationship ending brought pain upon my ex-wife and my children. But even now, despite everything, I can't make myself sorry for having been with you. And as selfish as it is on my part, despite the fact that, as a father, I should hate you for everything you've done to my children...I can't seem to stop loving you, Isabel, no matter how hard I try. However, ...I still miss my children as well.”

Isabel forced a tight smile onto her face. “I understand that, but as you said, your children don't need you anymore, and I do. Besides, you've had your time with Oliver and Thea. All I want now is to steal back some of the time with you that circumstances stole from us. And I’m sure I can find ways to...distract you from your worries, if you'll let me. Now, I know you said no to the lavatory. That's okay. But I hear the cabin I booked in Tahiti has a big, comfortable bed...”

Isabel leaned towards Robert's ear and whispered. “We should really break it in when we get there.”

Robert sighed. “Isabel, other than honoring my deal with you to help my children, the only reason I came with you on this trip was to help you get past the issues that caused you to hurt so many people. And me sleeping with you will not help you vanquish your demons. Besides...I don't deserve to have any kind of happiness after some of the things I've done. I've...” Robert Queeen lowered his voice to the point Isabel could barely hear him. “I told you, once, about how I screwed all those workers I fired from the steel mill out of their pensions. I also worked with horrible people to advance the cause of Tempest in a misguided effort to help the Glades. Even my good intentions on that score were motivated by guilt, because I killed that one city council member I told you about. And I've killed many more people for the League of Assassins since my return from death, I also killed Slade, and I set off those explosives that killed Sebastian Blood and his men. That's not even mentioning all the affairs I had with many women when I was married to Moira…all but one of which I deeply regret.” Isabel smiled at Robert when he looked at her meaningfully, before he continued speaking. “I don't deserve your love and devotion, Isabel. I never did.”

Isabel frowned as she whispered. “That's for me to decide, Robert. Not you. And I think you're more than good enough for me.You're far too hard on yourself. I know you still feel guilty about what happened with the steel mill, but we both know the company was going through a bad financial downturn at the time, and that funding all of those men's pensions would have pushed Queen Consolidated into bankruptcy. Instead of firing hundreds of people with no pay, you would have been forced to do the same to thousands. I know that was a hard choice to make, but you made the right one. Besides, your work trying to help the Glades with Tempest, which I even helped you with a little before the Gambit, helped a lot of people in that part of town get homes and jobs, including many of the people you had fired. Furthermore, you told me yourself that what happened to the city councilman was an accident, and that you couldn't save him after he fell. Covering that incident up after the fact was the sensible thing to do, to save not only yourself, but your whole family, a lot of grief. As for whatever the League made you do...from the League's reputation, I'm guessing the people that Ra's al Ghul made you kill were bad people, and that you weren't given a lot of choice in the matter. Even if you had died rather than killing them, another assassin would have done the job for you...and you wouldn't have been alive to protect your family from Slade. Those people's deaths are on Ra's al Ghul's hands, not yours. Furthermore, I can see now that Slade, Blood and his crew were bad people who were planning to destroy Starling. They deserved exactly what they got. And we both know that you only had all of those affairs because you were deeply unhappy in your marriage to Moira, but you didn't feel like divorce was an option because you didn't want to lose Thea. And I think you made up for all of that by getting your ex-wife and Walter back togetheranx, oh yeah, saving your ex-wife's life! Besides...”

Isabel grinned wickedly, but there was a sadness in her eyes that Robert easily picked up on as Isabel spoke. “I'm a much worse person than you are. And even though I still want you so bad it hurts, I've done enough bad things to know I don't deserve to be happy with you. For starters, I was the other woman in one of those affairs you mentioned, and as the saying goes, 'it takes two to tango.' That, and taking away Queen Consolidated and the Verdant from your family, was just the tip of the iceberg. I cost thousands of people their jobs when I was working for Stelmoore International. And after I was infected with Mirakuru, Slade told me he was planning to use Blood's army to force a government organization called ARGUS to destroy Starling City. And I was going to go along with that plan until you showed up, out of the blue, last night to...” Isabel coughed awkwardly. “Talk me out of it. And there’s something else I did I never told you about, something concerning Oliver...”

Robert sighed and interrupted Isabel. “We talked about this. I already forgave you for the things you did while working for Slade. As you admitted, you were in great emotional pain because of my death, and the way I broke things off between us, so your head wasn't in the best place at the time. And no one should hold you responsible for what you did under the influence of a powerful serum you didn't even consent to take. Also ,Oliver told me that he planned to hire as many people as he can from the companies you helped Slade split up, as soon as you gave him control of Queen Consolidated. And don't worry, I know Oliver doesn't have much business experience, but Moira does, and she won't let my son run Queen Consolidated into the ground. As for the other thing...” Robert hesitated for half a minute, then continued speaking in a whisper. “Oliver told me that you....had been with him. He swore up and down that he didn't know about our history at the time, but he was still very apologetic about the whole thing. I was sort of wondering...”

Isabel looked down in shame. “Why I slept with your son? That wasn't my proudest moment. I actually felt bad about it right after it happened. I guess...since you were dead, and I thought I could never have you again. I believed that being with Oliver would be the next best thing. That I could pretend he was you, just for a little while. But I couldn't. And it felt awkward and wrong the whole time. I was glad when it was over. And I am so sorry I disrespected you and your memory by sleeping with Oliver.”

Robert shook his head. “So you only...did what you did, with Oliver to feel closer to me?”

Isabel nodded, “It sounds really fucked up when you say it out loud, but yes.”

Robert shook his head.. “Well, Isabel...what you did was more than a little disturbing, and I can't say I approve, but I can at least understand the sentiment behind it. And I'm selfishly glad that you still missed me, even after all these years, considering the way that I ended things between us. So I forgive you for what you did with Oliver too. Just...promise me that you won't do something like that again.”

Isabel shivered. “Don't worry. I won't. Like I said, that night just felt really wrong.”

Robert nodded. “Good. The point stands, though, that you may have done some bad things, Isabel, but I know you well enough to know that you are not a bad person. After all, you had always been the selfless one during our affair, putting my needs and privacy above your own desires, and you even forgave me for the abrupt way I ended things between us. That's how I know that, in your heart, you are a good person, and you still deserve to be happy.”

Isabel smiled. “I could say the same thing about you, after you forgave me, and still love me, even after all the horrible things I did to your children.”

The brunette chuckled. “You know, it's funny. We've both done all these ‘horrible things’, and if I believed in such a place, I'd say I'm probably going to hell for some of the shit I've done, but neither of us seems to be able to see anything but the good in the other.'

Robert smiled at Isabel. “I guess it's true what they say, then. That love forgives. And...perhaps love means, not ‘never having to say you're sorry ‘ , which is nonsense, but that it's never too late to say you're sorry. For the record though, I think If either of us ever has the chance to see heaven, it would probably be you, seeing as you've never killed anyone, at least not directly. Besides, as much as I miss my children, I'm selfishly glad the two of us are together again, and I sure as hell wouldn’t enter those pearly gates without you. Now that we're reunited, even if not under the best circumstances, I don't want to be apart from you again any longer than necessary.”

Isabel sighed. “ I believe you still love me, Robert. But please don't pretend that you wouldn't leave me in a heartbeat if it meant you can see your children again. Your past actions have shown me where your heart truly lies. You don't have to pretend to feel the same way about me as I feel about you. To pretend that your devotion to me is as single-minded as my love for you. Besides, while I sort of hope heaven does exist, although I find it kind of doubtful, I'm pretty sure hell doesn't. I mean, damnation for all eternity sounds like a really harsh punishment for the sins of any single human lifetime, and I have to believe that any gods or goddesses that may or may not exist aren't that cruel. And if what you said about not wanting to be apart from me, at least in the afterlife, if there is such a thing, is true, than I have no reason to worry. No place that the two of us are together could ever be hell for me.”

Robert smiled. “Maybe we are on the same page then. I will admit to missing my children, and wanting to see them again, but I would be lying if I said I didn't want to make love to you again. I’m just worried that if we sleep together ...it will make it harder for you when I die again. That it will hurt you even more to lose me once more. Besides, this old body isn't in the same shape as it once was since I came back from the dead. I'm afraid my performance in the bedroom won't be up to my usual standards.”

Isabel shook her head and whispered. “I don't care about that. Even if you can't get it up anymore, we both know plenty of other ways to pleasure each other. If lying naked in each other's arms until we both fall asleep is all we can do tonight, that will be enough for me. All I ask is that you give it your best effort. As for the other stuff, when you die again, if you die, it's going to hurt like hell for me anyway. But if we're together for awhile, before that happens...at least I'll have a few more good memories with you to help me get through the pain this time. And at least this time, I'll know that you died still loving me.”

Robert nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. Alright Isabel, I suppose we can try to...Wait, you said IF I die? Isabel, I told you that I was going to...”

Isabel held up her hand. “Stop, Robert. Just stop. This was going to be a surprise, but...there's a clinic in Tahiti that Slade found out about when he was working for the Australian government, and told me about in passing. It's usually only used by various government agencies, but it's technically open to anyone who needs it, if they can pay. It specializes in neuroscience. I called one of the doctors there today, when you were taking care of other business. I told him about your symptoms, and he thinks he has a treatment that can help you. It's three weeks long, and it cost $30 million, but if it can save your life, it will be worth every penny.”

Robert grimaced. “The money from those shares was supposed to be for you to live comfortably, Isabel! Not for some bullshit science experiment that would have me spend my last days as a lab rat!”

Isabel put her hand on top of Robert's. “I understand that. But I couldn't live with myself if I didn't at least try to save you. And if this does work...my life will be a lot happier, a lot more comfortable, if you're still alive. Plus, this clinic has very high ratings. They get results, and they might be able to save you. It's only three weeks. Please do this for me, Robert. After the treatment is over, whether it works or not, we can go away to some beach resort somewhere and have a proper vacation. How does that sound?”

Robert hesitated for several seconds, then shrugged and smiled . “Alright. But before I go through this treatment....” The older man whispered in Isabel's ear. “We should really break in that bed first. You know, for old times sake.”

Isabel grinned wickedly. “Oh, don't worry, we will. For Auld Lang Syne?” Isabel poured herself and Robert fresh glasses of wine and held her own glass up towards Robert's, who half-smiled and clinked his glass against Isabel's.

….Sometime later...

Robert and Isabel entered their small cabin with haste, quickly dropping their luggage on the floor before they pulled each other into a deep kiss that lasted over a minute. When Isabel finally pulled away from the kiss, she breathed out. “Finally, I thought that limo driver would never leave us alone!'

Robert grinned. “I know exactly what you mean! Where's this king sized bed you kept going on about on the plane?!”

Isabel smirked. “This way, I think. Come on!” Isabel lead Robert to a room adjacent to both the kitchen area and the living room, closed the door, then rapidly took off her clothes until she was standing in front of her lover stark naked. Robert's mouth fell open a little bit at the beautiful vision before him, even if she was a bit thin now, and he attempted get out of his own clothes as quickly as possible. Although the older man was able to take off his pants, underwear, socks and shoes easily enough, his hand started shaking uncontrollably when he tried to take of his shirt, and his fingers struggled against the buttons. “Damn these stupid buttons!”

Robert only stopped fumbling with his shirt buttons when Isabel gently laid her hands on top of Robert's . When the Queen patriarch looked up, He saw that Isabel had a calm expression on her face, and that her eyes had a kind, understanding look in them as she said. “Here. Let me help you with those.”

Isabel quickly unbuttoned Robert's shirt, then threw the garment to the side with all of the other discarded clothing items. Isabel took a quick look at her lover's body, and despite the fact she still found the man handsome, had to suppress a flinch at how painfully thin Robert had become since his resurrection. Isabel silently vowed to herself that she would help the love of her life fix that, before she forced a smile, then brought Robert's lips to hers for a short, but sweet, five second kiss. “So...what are feeling up to doing tonight, Robert?”

Isabel smirked when she saw that her lover already had a large boner, even as the older man said. “Whatever you want. I don't know what's happening to me, but right now, I honestly feel like I could do just about anything!”

Isabel nodded. “Be that as it may, it's been awhile since we've been together, so let's start simple.” Isabel laid down in the middle of the King-sized bed, then opened her legs as wide as she could, so that Robert would have easy access to her womanhood. “I want you inside me!”

Robert Queen nodded as he slowly climbed onto the bed, then positioned himself over Isabel. “Are you sure about this? I didn't bring any protection with me...”

Isabel nodded. “ I've never been more sure about anything! Besides, I get tested every six months, just like you did when you were alive, so I know we're both clean. And from what you've told me, your odds of fathering a child at this point are slim to none. But on the off chance I do get pregnant, I swear I will do my best to take good care of our baby...”

Robert chuckled as he slowly lowered himself into Isabel, causing the latter party to moan with pleasure. “That sounds pretty sure!”

Isabel and Robert's lovemaking lasted well into the night, and both lovers were surprised at how much Robert's body was still capable of when the older man was properly motivated, as the couple exhausted every sexual position that they had ever tried together, and moved onto entirely new ones. As they made love, Robert couldn't help but marvel as the events of the evening showed how well he and Isabel still fit together physically, intellectually, and emotionally, far better than Robert and Moira ever had. If anything, that had always been the greatest tragedy of Robert's affair with the brunette. In or out of the bedroom, no one had ever been able to make Robert as happy as Isabel could. For this reason, Robert Queen couldn't help but wish that his relationship choices could have been different.

Evidentially, the same thought had crossed Isabel's mind, because when she and Robert were holding each other's naked bodies close in the afterglow of sex, the brunette said. “You're still amazing, Robert! Can I say something crazy?!”

Robert shrugged. “Sure.”

Isabel's face was serious as she said. “I wish I'd been born sooner, so we were closer to the same age. That you would have met me first, and married me instead of Moira. And hell, since they both mean so much to you, I wish that both of your children could have been our children.”

Robert smiled sadly. “I would have preferred that too. But I though you didn't even want kids?”

Isabel shrugged. “I know, but...I think I could have made a good mom, if you had been around to keep me from screwing up too much. And I would have loved any children that we had together with all my heart.”

Robert sighed. “For what's it worth, I think you could make a great mother someday, if you ever decide to be. You don't always show it to everyone, but you have a great capacity for selfless love.”

Isabel just nodded, looked at her watch, which was on the night stand next to her side of the bed, then sighed. “Your consultation with the doctor starts in less than eight hours. We should get some sleep.”

Robert nodded. “Okay. Good night, Isabel.” The man sighed deeply, before voicing a sentence that, for so many reasons, shouldn't be true. But somehow, it still was, and Robert now knew, it always would be. “I love you.”

Isabel smiled. “Good night, Robert. And I love you too.” Isabel's smile turned to a frown as she watched her soulmate (because she still believed that was exactly what Robert Queen was) pass out from exhaustion, and his breathing slowed down, even as the man's hands shook a little in his sleep. At that moment, as she gazed down at the emaciated form of the man resting his head on her shoulder, the brunette's heart filled with fear. Fear that she would lose the man she loved all over again. For Isabel knew she would not be able to handle losing the love of her life twice. That was what the cyanide capsule in the hidden pocket of her purse was for. Still, Isabel desperately hoped that she wouldn't need to use it. That the clinic which she and Robert were now residents of would be able to cure the man she loved of the affliction which was quickly killing him. Isabel gently stroked Robert's Queen's gray hair, being careful not to wake the man from his much needed rest, as she silently prayed to every god, goddess, and higher power that she had ever heard of, over and over again. 'Please don't let Robert die again! I promise I will be a better person, a nicer person. I'll give to the poor, and do as much good as I can with my life, if you heal the man I love! I swear it!’

Isabel continued stroking Robert's hair with one arm, and she held the man tight against her body with the other, not caring about the discomfort this caused her, for several hours straight until she was finally able to fall asleep. Just before the brunette was able to slip into unconsciousness, however, a single tear fell down Isabel's cheek as she looked down at Robert and whispered “I love you so much!”

The next day passed by in a whirlwind, starting with Isabel getting up early, going through the cabin's well stocked pantry and fridge, then making a large breakfast of waffles, bacon, and eggs for herself and Robert Queen. Isabel had then woken Robert up over an hour before his consultation session.

This theoretically left plenty of time for the man and his lover to get ready, then eat a leisurely breakfast, while laughing and talking about everything they could think off, including some of the high and low points of their relationship, and each of their own personal failings. Two of which were hard for Isabel to admit to Robert, but she managed to do so anyway. “Robert, I have some...confessions to make. The night Slade kidnapped Thea...kidnapped your daughter...I knew that he was going to do it, to get into your son's head. He swore he wasn't going to lay a hand on her, and that he was going to return her to her family but...I thought you should know about that. Also, their were two occasions on which I tried and failed to...harm Oliver, but only after he tried to attack me first, both times, for working with Slade. I just thought you should know that, and that I'm really, really sorry for trying to harm one of the two people you love most, and allowing the other to come to even psychological harm, even if one of them tried to hurt me first.”

Robert sighed and put his hand over Isabel's. “Thank you for telling me that, Isabel. But as I said twice before, I forgave you for the things you did while working for Slade. Especially if those events, and temporarily taking away QC and the Verdant, are the extent of the harm that you, personally, inflicted on my children. But since you brought this stuff up, I must know...Did you know that Slade was going to ambush my ex-wife and my children on the side of the road that night and try to kill either Moira or my daughter, before I killed that one-eyed psychopath?”

Isabel quickly shook her head, and the brunette had never been so happy to be ignorant about an important piece of information. “I didn't. There was a lot about Slade's plans that he didn't tell me, and what he was going to do that night was definitely one of them. I'm not going to lie and say that I was a good person during that time, or that I particularly like Moira, but...pre-Mirakuru, I was definitely a lot more ambivalent about killing people. That's why, the second time I tried to launch a counterattack against Oliver, when he had an arrow aimed in my direction...I couldn't pull the trigger of my gun, not when I could see his eyes. His gray eyes look so much like yours, they reminded me so much of you. In that moment, I hesitated, because I couldn't bring myself to end a life that you had helped create...Anyway, the point I was trying to make is, Slade knew that I was a little bit squeamish about killing people, so he didn't tell me he was going to try to kill Moira or Thea. But, now that you're back, and have helped me become less blinded by senseless hatred, I'm glad that he failed. I think I have some idea now, how much it would have hurt you to lose Thea. And I know you, and your guilt complex, well enough to know that you wouldn't have been able to live with yourself if you had failed to save Moira, either. So I'm glad that your ex-wife...” Isabel couldn't suppress a smile as she emphasized the ex part of ex-wife, “didn't die either.”

Robert smiled. 'Good.”

Isabel frowned when she looked at her watch again. “Damn it, we're going to be late!”

Despite the fact that the cabin that Isabel had rented was only a two minute walk from the doctor's office, the unconventional couple managed to be a minute late. Although nobody said anything about this, the bald American doctor, and the large Polynesian nurse, who were setting up the equipment to do a scan of Robert's entire nervous system, were both visibly annoyed. The American doctor cleared his throat. “ I am Doctor Archibald. Now that you are both here, I can verify the patient's consent for this procedure, and take your payment. You...”

The doctor pointed to Isabel. “What is your relationship to...” The doctor looked at his chart and raised his right eyebrow at the name that had been given for his newest patient. “Bobby King? Seriously?”

Robert suppressed a chuckle, while Isabel glared at the bald man. “I'm sorry. I was told this was a discreet medical facility. I'm not going to pay you for asking questions, I'm here to make sure you cure this patient. Now, I just liquated $30 million dollars worth of stock shares on the way here to pay for this treatment, but if you don't want our money because you don't like this man's alias...”

The doctor raised his hand. “No, that's alright. I'll just fill in his name as John Smith then. But I still need to insure that you are an individual that is authorized to be in the room while I go over the details of the procedure with Mr. Smith, and that you can make decisions for him, if he becomes unable to make them for himself.. What is your relationship to the patient? Are you this man's daughter?”

Isabel opened her mouth, about to say she was, just to secure permission to stay in the room, before Robert spoke up. “She my wife, actually. She's allowed to be here.”

The doctor seemed surprised at Robert's words. “Really? Considering your age difference, I could have sworn...”

Isabel grimaced, but went with a story somewhat close to the truth, in order to shut the curious doctor up. “I'm his second wife, actually. You can call me Summer Smith. The reason we're traveling incognito is that we're hiding away from this man's ex-wife, who is trying to sue him for even more alimony than the generous amount that she agreed to in her and my husband's pre-nup. She's still angry about 'John Smith' leaving her for me, you see. Like it's his fault that she wasn't providing for my husband's basic needs. Besides, I know it's really cliché, but I couldn't help it...” Isabel held Robert's hand and shrugged. “I fell in love with my boss. But the vindictive bit...” Robert cleared his throat, letting Isabel know she was overselling her story, so she took a deep breath and said. “His ex won't let it go, and she's still trying to get money from my very sick husband. Money that he needs for this potentially life-saving treatment. I mean, who does something like that?!'

Isabel could have sworn that the large Polynesian nurse, whose nametag read only Lilo, glared at her for a moment, but the expression was gone so quickly that the brunette thought she might have imagined it. The doctor, however, nodded in understanding. “No judgment here. Believe me, I get it. I'm on my third marriage, with five kids to my name. That's a lot of mouths to feed, and bloodsucking exes don't help. But I know my current wife, Charlotte, is the one. Anyway, don't worry, we pride ourselves on anonymity at this facility. Nobody outside of these grounds is going to know you are here unless you tell them yourself. Now we just need to settle the matter of payment. As you know the cost of treatment is $30 million , unless other modifications are needed. I've already given you the bank account you are to deposit that money into...”

Isabel had been pressing buttons on her phone while the doctor was talking, and interrupted the bald man by showing him her device.. “$30 million. Paid in full. Now, you were going to tell my husband about the procedure?”

The doctor nodded, then turned to Robert. “First, we need to run the neural scan...”

Robert climbed into the futuristic looking machine in front of him without further prompting, so the doctor just shrugged and told the nurse to begin running the scan. After the scan was complete, the doctor looked at the holographic representation of Robert's Queen's nervous system, which appeared next to the prone man. Doctor Archibald shock his head and sighed. “I was told about this man's symptoms over the phone, but this...this is the worse case of nerve damage I've ever seen with a living patient. What happened to you? No, scratch that, I don't want to know...for legal purposes. Better question: How are you still alive? You must be in constant pain!”

Robert nodded as his hands shook, and Isabel couldn't suppress a single tear from falling down her face as her lover said. “I am. Except when I mercifully slip into unconsciousness. But I have a lot to live for.” Robert gave Isabel a smile, but Isabel was only able to give a small smile back, because she believed the man she loved was talking about his children. For Isabel was not yet ready to take Robert's pronunciations of his devotion to her at face value after he had abandoned her once before.

The doctor sat down in a chair next to Robert, and invited Isabel to sit down in a chair as well, before the bald man said. “John, Summer, I'm going to level with you, with nerve damage this extensive, I can't guarantee anything. However, I estimate there is at least a 43% percent chance that the radical neural re-wiring treatments at this facility will cure you of all your symptoms, John...provided you survive treatment. Because this procedure is going to subject you to a lot of pain, which you are already suffering an intense amount of, and I can't guarantee that you will live through it, especially when you are so thin that your body doesn't have as much reserve energy as it should. In fact, I would refuse to give you the treatment at all, according to basic medical ethics, but these scans indicate that if you refuse treatment, you are only going to live another two months, at most, anyway. But it's you're choice. If you would like, we have a wonderful hospice facility on the other side of the island, where you can pass on comfortably, at a fraction of the cost of this painful treatment. I'll even refund you most of your money ...”

Isabel shook her head, “No. It's the treatment or nothing!”

Robert shrugged and got up from his chair. “Then I choose nothing. I'm not going to subject myself to a painful procedure that probably won't help me, and may even kill me faster, when I'm already in agony! Let's go to that beach you promised me instead. I always thought it would be nice to die on a beach...”

Robert Queen was almost halfway to the door, before Isabel grunted in frustration, then promised Robert the only thing that she knew would get the man she loved to go through with the procedure, the one thing she had sworn she would never allow Robert to have again: freedom from her. “If you go through this procedure, whether it works or not...I'll let you go back to your children without complaint. Because you have made it clear that you love them more than you love me, and that you will chose them over me every time. So I'm going to let you go back to your family after this treatment is done. I will let you take every dime we have in our joint bank account with you, and won't contest it if you back out of our relationship. I will release you from all your promises to me, everything I have selfishly used to keep you with me. You can go see the people you love most again! All I ask in return is that you do this one last thing for me! That you try to live!”

Robert walked back to Isabel, looked her in the eyes with an unreadable expression on his face, then said. “So...if I do this procedure...If I let this mad scientist rewire my brain, and live to tell the tale, you'd willingly let me go? Just like that? Without taking any retribution on me, or my family?”

Isabel nodded. “I'll let you go completely. No strings attached, it you do this for me. If you fight to survive! Because I love you too much to let you die, and I will give up anything, even you, to keep that from happening! I swear it on...” Isabel sighed when she couldn't think of anything higher she believed in to swear on except. “I swear it on all the love I have for you in my heart!”

Robert hesitated for several seconds while staring at Isabel, trying to find something in her that Isabel could only guess at, before the man sighed and turned to the doctor. “Okay. When can we start this three week procedure?”

Doctor Archibald nodded with a smile. “As soon as we go over the possible side effects and get informed consent...”

Robert and Isabel's two sets of eyes both glazed over as the doctor read off the long list of possible side effects. Finally, however, Robert and Isabel were presented numerous forms to fill out in triplicate, which the strange couple did, using their new aliases, Once that was done, the doctor led Robert, blindfolded, into a room that Isabel wasn't allowed into for “intellectual property reasons.”

Isabel paced around the room she and the nurse were still in, back and forth, for several minutes , until Isabel heard Robert scream in agony. The brunette held her hands to her ears and quickened her pacing then, even as a large number of tears escaped from her eyes for several minutes. At that point, nurse Lilo tapped Isabel on the shoulder, and waited for the brunette to lower her hands from her ears before the large woman said, with a small smile on her face, and a much kinder look in her eyes than before. “The hard part's done...for today. The doc is just putting some things back into place, and I will help your husband walk back to the cabin you're sharing. You can accompany us on the way their, if you wish.”

Isabel huffed and crossed her arms. “Of course I want to help you escort him back to the cabin! Whatever you may think of me, I do love Ro...I mean, John!”

Lilo nodded sadly. “I believe you. I don't know what the nature of your relationship with that man is, and I don't want to know. But can I just say that what you just did, letting your husband go back to his family...If you meant what you said, it was a really selfless act.”

Isabel shook her head and cried a little more. “Tell that to the man who was just screaming in agony! Maybe...maybe I should just call this whole thing off. Let the man I love go back home, and spend his last days with his children, instead of putting him through more suffering!”

Lilo nodded. “Yes, it is a moral dilemma. If he stays here, your husband will be in a lot of pain once a day for three weeks straight, and he may die anyway. If you let him go now, though, 'John' will be in less pain, but he will die very soon, and his children will wish they could have had more time with him. If it helps though, I've worked here for over a decade, and Doctor Archibald is a magician when it comes to treating conditions like your husband’s! If anyone can cure his neurological condition, it will be him! I believe in Doctor Archibald! I wouldn't work for him if I didn't!”

Isabel sighed, then, remembering her promise to be nicer to people, smiled and nodded at Lilo before the nurse exited the room. The brunette swiftly made the decision to continue encouraging Robert to stay the course with his treatment, but that she would not force the man to continue if the Queen patriarch really wanted to stop. Shortly, thereafter, Lilo led Robert, who now had a large bandage on his head, out of the operating room. After that, Isabel helped the nurse get a limping Robert to the private cabin he shared with Isabel.

The next three weeks seemed to drag on forever, as Robert continued his painful neurological treatments. Some days were relatively good, and Isabel and Robert would spend most of those days relaxing on one of the island's many beaches, or making love (although Isabel privately thought Robert only did this latter activity to distract himself from the constant pain he was feeling). But most days were bad ones, and Robert would be in too much pain from his procedures to do anything else but sleep, eat, and use the restroom.

However, every day, good or bad, Isabel did her best to take care of Robert. In addition to standing in the other room whenever Robert went through treatment, Isabel also escorted her lover to and from the doctor's office, with nurse Lilo often helping Isabel with this duty. In addition, with the nurse's help, Isabel made a meal plan for Robert and herself (for Lilo had agreed with Robert that Isabel was also “Much too thin!) and cooked for the two of them. And on days when Robert wasn't up to much besides lying in bed all day, Isabel laid down next to the older man and held him in her arms as she assured Robert that. “You're the strongest person I know, and I know you can do this! You can get through these treatments so you can live a long life with you children!”

However, during the third week, despite the fact that, as Dr. Archibald had observed. “ You and John are getting closer to being at a healthy weight, you two must be eating well, Summer! Your husband's weight gain will greatly increase the odds of your husband surviving treatment!” Robert's condition seemed to turn from bad to worse. At the beginning of that last week, Isabel's lover was in so much pain that it was agonizing for him to walk, and the doctor had confined Robert to a wheelchair for the remainder of his stay at the medical facility. Isabel didn't have any problem pushing Robert from place to place, or even helping the man use the restroom on occasion, but the brunette could tell that the fiercely indepent Robert Queen, former titan of industry, found it deeply humiliating to become so dependent on another, even though Isabel would constantly remind the man she loved that. “I love taking care of you. It's a labor of love for me, not a burden.”

After one particularly painful treatment session, sixteen days in, however, Robert had been unable to do much more than lie on the bed he shared with Isabel in a fetal position. Seeing the man she loved in so much agonizing pain, and not even knowing if these treatments were helping Robert (since a recent consultation session with Dr. Archibald had revealed that their was now only a 35% percent chance that the neurological surgeries would cure Robert of his symptoms at this point), Isabel made a decision. The brunette had climbed into bed next to her lover, took the man's face in her hands and said.”I can tell these treatments are really hard for you, and we don't really know if they are even working so...” Isabel cried a few tears, but quickly wiped them away before she added. “You can stop now, if you want. I won't hold it against you, because I know you gave this procedure a fair shake. If you decide this is too hard for you, that these treatments are too painful...I'll drop you off in Starling City with Oliver and Thea tonight with the $70 million. It's your choice.”

Robert had sighed then, and the man groaned as he drew his arms and legs away from his body, looked right In Isabel's eyes, then shook his head. “No. I've come to far to back out now. You were right to insist I fight, I'm strong enough to get through this. I know I can beat this. I can make a full recovery so I can spend more time with the people I love. But I can't do this alone...”

Isabel nodded, then gave Robert a quick kiss. “ You don't have to, I'll be with you every step of the way.”

The extreme pain Robert was in only increased after successive treatments, and it eventually became too hard for the older man to make it to the restroom on time, so Robert was given a bed pan, and Isabel started sleeping on the couch at night, at Robert's insistence. Usually, the couple let nurse Lilo change out the bed pan several times a day, but there were two occasions that the nurse was swamped with other patients, and Isabel had to do it instead. And even though the brunette obviously didn't enjoy this duty, she never once complained about it.

Finally, however, during the last three days of treatments, Robert 's pain actually started to decrease, and the older man somehow started becoming younger before Isabel's very eyes, as the man's wrinkles went away, and his gray hair turned to blonde. By the end of the final treatment, doctor Archibald announced that Robert was “A medical miracle!” The doctor elaborated that something had obviously changed for the better during Robert's final week of treatment and that “John Smith is now completely cured of his neurological disorder! Also, you'll have to tell me your fountain of youth secret, Mr Smith, because you look like a man in your late twenties!”

Robert shrugged. “I don't know, doc! Like you said, I'm a medical miracle!”

The doctor had looked skeptical of Robert's claim of ignorance, but, having no explanation for the de-aging, or healing, processes himself, the doctor shrugged. Dr. Archibald then stressed that, although it was okay for his patient to walk again under his own power now, he should take things easy for the next two weeks or so, eat well, drink a lot of fluids, and get plenty of rest, to give his body time to recuperate. Isabel had profusely thanked the doctor and nurse Lilo for saving Robert, and Lilo had actually responded by hugging both Robert and Isabel, which caused Robert to laugh, while Isabel had stood straight as a board for several seconds...before Isabel remembered her promise again, forced a smile onto her face, and hugged Lilo back while saying to the doctor and nurse “Thank you both so much for saving my husband's life, and helping me take care of him!” For several minutes afterwards, nothing could make Isabel stop smiling at the thought that the man she loved was going to live, and for a long time at that, after all!

Once Isabel and Robert had returned to their cabin to pack their bags, however, Isabel's euphoria dimmed a little bit, when she realized that this would be the very last day she would ever get to see Robert Queen. Isabel sighed when she and Robert were done packing “Well, then....I'm really glad you're going to live, Robert, and that the full effects of the Lazarus Pitt finally kicked in after your treatments, so you have a long, happy life ahead of you! And I'm proud of you for sticking to your treatments, because I know they were hard for you. I know this is the part where we say goodbye, and you go back to Oliver and Thea…again, and I really don't want to draw things out. I hope someday, you and I find each other again. But for now, I think it's better if we ripped the band aid off and just...”

“Isabel...” Robert smiled and shook his head. “You can stop right there. I'm not going anywhere without you.”

Isabel's smile at the moment eclipsed the light of the sun...at least in Robert's eyes. “Do you really mean that?! I mean, I know you said you’d forgiven me for all the bad shit I've done, but I still didn't think you’d stay with me now that our deal, which I strong armed you into in the first place, was at it's end. Especially after I forced you to go through all those painful neurological treatments...'

Robert shrugged. “If you hadn't pressured me to go through that living hell, I would still be an old, dying man right now, if I wasn't dead already. So I'd say things worked out for the best, wouldn't you? Besides, I could still have said no to the procedure,especially after you gave me an out last week. But I chose to continue. I'm very glad that I did. And that I had you to care for me these last three weeks. Like I said once before, you have a great capacity for selfless love, Isabel, and you've proven that at this place, especially when you were willing to give me up to try to save me.And that is one of the reasons that, like I said, despite everything you've done...I can't stop loving you. Nor could I bear to be apart from you again.”

Not knowing what to say right away, Isabel practically lunged at Robert, drawing the older man into a deep kiss that lasted for over a minute, before Robert finally pulled his lips away from Isabel's causing the brunnete to chuckle. “Sorry. I got a little bit carried away there. I just love you so much, and I'm so glad that you're going to live, and that you're not leaving me again. Thank you!

Robert smiled. “And thank you for taking care of and encouraging me these last three weeks, and for forcing me to fight for my life!”

After Isabel and Robert shared another, brief five second kiss, the couple quickly finished packing their bags, then got into the limo waiting for them outside, which then started driving the young man and woman to the airport, from which they would be free to go anywhere on earth. Isabel and Robert where all smiles during the first few minutes of the drive, before Robert said something that caused Isabel no small amount of distress. The man cleared his throat and said. “Of course, now that our deal is concluded, and I'm staying with you of my own free will, instead of obligation, I am free to contact my children, am I not?”

Isabel gave Robert a tight smile, while reminding herself that she would need to be sensitive to her man's love for his children, and make allowances for Oliver and Thea, if she wanted Robert not to leave her again. “Of course. Oliver and Thea deserve to know you are going to live, after all. Let me give you my cellphone. Oliver used to be my business partner, so I have his humber on speed dial. Number five, I believe.”

Robert smiled after Isabel handed the man her phone, but paused before he pushed down on the button to call his son as he said. “Actually, I wanted a little more than that. I would like to visit Oliver and Thea in Starling City. To let them know I'm alright in person and spend some time with my children.”

Isabel gulped, but nodded, while trying to push down her fear that Oliver or Thea would convince their father to leave her again. “Of course. Whatever you want. I suppose I can just wait in our hotel room while you three visit...”

Robert shook his head. “No. I want you to accompany me when I see my children. I would like to explain some things about our relationship to Oliver and Thea, like why I'm not leaving you now that our deal is concluded and...I would appreciate it you came with me. Maybe if they see how happy you and I are together, it will be easier for my children to understand some of the decisions I've made over the years.”

Isabel sighed. “Robert, I can understand you wanting to see your kids, but I don't think me coming along is a good idea, especially if Moira is present. She, Oliver and Thea hate me, and not without good reason.”

Robert sighed. “I know. Don't worry, Moira won't be there. I've already paid all my debts to my ex-wife. But my obligation as Oliver and Thea's father never ends. Just know that my children don't have to like you, Isabel. I just hope they eventually come to accept your place at my side, and the decisions you and I made together as a couple. At the very least, I hope that I can make Oliver and Thea understand that I still love them. That hasn't changed just because you and I have decided to resume our relationship. I want my children to know that I will still be there for them, whenever they need me. And who knows? Maybe in time, Oliver and Thea will come to like you a little more, after I explain to them everything you've done for me over the last three weeks.”

Isabel, seeing that Robert's finger was still hovering over the five button on her phone, sighed and nodded. “Okay, If this is what you need to be happy, Robert. Go ahead and arrange the meet up.”

….A little over a month later...

Isabel felt like she was on the verge of hyperventilating as she stood in the lobby of the Starling City hotel, right next to Robert Queen. And as much as as Isabel wanted to blame her anxiety at the prospect of the upcoming visit between the Queen siblings and Robert and herself, which had been delayed several weeks due to “extenuating circumstances” that Oliver wouldn't elaborate on, the brunette knew that was only part of the story. Isabel admitted to herself that, both during her and Robert's time at the clinic, and then their one month extended vacation in New York City, she had let her exercise routine fall by the way side in favor of spending every waking moment with the man she loved. Furthermore, Isabel's strict diet, which had already become looser at the clinic, had been cast aside entirely in favor of helping her love indulge his every food related whim, be it for New York style pizza, authentic Italian food, various types of Asian dishes in China Town, or other foods from various food trucks and restraunts sprinkled all over NYC. And since the couple had only been able to take part in sedentary activities together, so Robert could rest properly from his life-saving procedure, such as feeding pigeons and the homeless in Central Park, going to Broadway shows, or taking leisurely tours through several museums, Isabel's body hadn't exactly had the chance to burn off any excess calories. As a result, in under two months, Isabel had gained back the thirty pounds it had taken the brunette years to lose...and then some.

Isabel sighed as she put one hand over her noticeable potbelly, which was already starting to get too big for the purple dress that Robert had bought her with the joint-bank account he now shared with Isabel (as Isabel had vowed that, after Robert had decided to stay with her after their deal had expired, “From now on, we'll share everything. What's mine is yours!”) and tried not to think about her growing backside and love handles, which were starting to catch up to her recent abdominal growth. The brunette couldn't help but feel ashamed that she had let herself go, to the extent that she was now the heaviest she had ever been, right in front of the man she loved, as she had already gained a whooping thirty five pounds. However, the brunette tried to push that thought out of her mind as she looked at the gold watch on her wrist and said.” Your children are late, Robert.”

For half a second, Isabel worried that her tone had been too harsh. But her fear on that score soon evaporated when Robert, whose hair was dyed black while he wore colored contacts to conceal his identity, nodded his head in agreement. The man was breathing heavily after the quarter mile walk from his and Isabel's own, less ostentatious temporary dwelling, “Yes, they are. Even later than we are. We should call a cab for our trip back to our own hotel. Remind me again not to try any kind of exercising in public again until I'm in better shape.” Robert patted his own distended middle, which, along with his bigger, softer ass (which Isabel loved to grab when she made love to her paramour every night), love handles, and softer face, which was just starting to sport the beginnings of a double chin, bore the brunt of the man's fifty pound weight gain since his and Isabel's “last holiday' had started.

Isabel shook her head. “ I agree we should call a cab back, but don't be so hard on yourself, Robert. You've been through a trying ordeal over the last two months, and even beat a terminal illness recently. You deserved a little R&R, and you needed to eat a lot to get your strength back. Besides...I think this new body suits you. You just seem so soft, and happy, and content. And it's kind of...nice, having even more of you to hold at night.”

Isabel's tone had gone down to a whisper during that last bit, so Robert followed suite as he grinned. “You really think so? You don't think I'm starting to look...fat?”

Isabel shook her head. “No. At least not yet. And besides, you're a man. Nobody cares if you get fat. Especially since the recent particle accelerator explosion in Coast City, in addition to spawning a bunch of meta-humans in that city, and making it so 10% of Earth's population now has six toes on their left foot, ended all obesity related illnesses worldwide. But I, your girlfriend, shouldn't have allowed myself to get big enough to resemble a small whale.” Isabel patted her own belly as she looked down in shame and said. “I know you can't find this attractive, and I think you're a saint for staying with me this long. But I promise you that I will knuckle down and lose weight until I resemble the woman you fell in love with again.”

Robert shook his head and smiled. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, Isabel. Actually, I'm glad you've gained weight over the last two months, since you were so skinny before, and that you have actually been relaxed and happy enough during our time in the Big Apple to enjoy yourself. Besides, I think you look more beautiful then ever!”

Isabel smiled when she saw the honesty in her boyfriend's eyes then, and forgetting for a moment she and Robert were at a public place, Isabel drew her lover into a deep kiss that the man also quickly lost himself in. The couple might have continued osculating for several minutes if a familiar voice hadn't interrupted them thirty seconds later. “Oh god, my eyes! I thought I wouldn't ever have to see that horrifying sight again!”

Robert and Isabel quickly drew apart to look at their audience. Obviously, Thea Queen, the person who had commented on Robert and Isabel's kiss, and Oliver Queen, who was standing by his half-sister's side with a stoic look on his face, had finally arrived at the hotel to meet their father. Although Robert looked embarrassed when he saw the nauseous look on his daughter in all-but blood's face, Isabel just smiled as the Queen siblings as she drew her left hand down to hold Robert's right. Both Thea, and too a smaller extent, Oliver, were taken aback by the genuineness of the brunette's smile, which didn't seem forced (like the times they had seen the woman in front of Moira) or fake (as it was the night Isabel had seduced Oliver in Russia). In short, it was clear to both of Robert's children that, for the first time since either of them had met her, Isabel was genuinely happy. This was the reason the two half-siblings were a little bit frightened when Isabel said. “Oliver, Thea! So good to see you two again! Sorry our last visit wasn't under the best circumstances, but I'm certain that we can put all that...unpleasantness behind us , right?”

Oliver raised his eyebrow at the genuinely hopeful note in Isabel's voice as he cleared his throat and said. “Sure. That seems reasonable. Under the circumstances.” Oliver then turned towards his father and whispered. “I'm sorry we had to postpone seeing you again so long.I know your time is precious right now. At least, I think it is, although you look surprisingly good for a man who is dying, dad. Did you get Botox or something?”

Oliver shook his head. “Never mind, it doesn't matter. The point is, I didn't think it was safe for you to be in Starling City again until a couple of days ago. You see...” Oliver spoke loud enough that any potential eavesdroppers would be able to hear it. “The streets hadn't been safe lately, because the Arrow has had a few run-ins with the Dark Archer over the last month. Don't worry though, a couple days ago, the Arrow took care of Malcolm Merlyn, permanently. So you should be safer now that there's only one maniac with a hood running around...”

The smile on Isabel's face tightened as she interrupted Oliver. “Are the police sure the Dark Archer is dead this time? I mean, they believed that before...didn't they? And then that maniac, who had killed someone very important to all of us...”Isabel gave Robert a quick, side-ways glance. “Came back to kill even more people.”

Oliver nodded. “Oh, they're sure this time. I wanted to spare you both the grisly details, but a reliable source within the SCPD confirmed that the Arrow put three arrows into the Dark archer's chest, then proceeded to decapitate Malcolm with his own sword, then threw that mass murder's head and body into a furnace and watched until all of Merlyn's remains had turned into nothing but ash.”

Isabel grinned. “Good.”

Robert coughed. “ That does sound pretty sure. Let's move on to a more pleasant line of conversation, shall we?'

Thea nodded. “Yes. Like how this hand off is going to work. Since you wanted to meet us first, Isabel, I assume you were wanting something else in exchange for giving us our dying father back. What do you want, Isabel, more money? Or do you expect us to give you controlling stock of Queen Consolidated again?”

Isabel shook her head and smiled. “I'm sorry. You and your brother seem to misunderstand what is going on here. But you would have known that if Oliver hadn't been so paranoid and let your father talk to him for more than five seconds at a time. Pity. Let me bring a couple of important things to your attention, first of all...”

Robert put his hand on Isabel's arm and whispered, “Let me tell them, honey.” 

Isabel smiled and nodded while squeezing Robert's hand, which she was still holding. “Of course, dear.”

Robert sighed and spoke quietly. “Oliver, Thea. You are my children, and I love both of you...more than I can describe. So there's some things you deserve to know. First off all, Isabel has graciously agreed to release me from my deal with her, and I am thus free to see the two of you as often as circumstances permit. However, there's too big a risk of my identity being discovered, leading to several awkward question about where I’ve been, or how I came back from the dead, apparently, in better shape than when I died the first time, for me to stay in Starling. So their will be no hand-off.”

Thea frowned at Robert. “Unbelievable. She still has you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she, dad? Yeah, you convinced Isabel to let you see us, but apparently, she's still inside your head enough to get you to keep living in sin with her? So, what, did you and Isabel find a little pent house suite in this hotel to shack up in, and when it's convenient for her, maybe Isabitch Whorechev will let you see your own children a few times before you die again?!”

Robert sighed heavily, and Isabel was about to speak with an angry look on her face when Oliver turned to the brunette and said. “I apologize for my sister's rudeness, Miss Rochev. It's just that this is a very emotional moment for us, and we're sort of confused about why you and Mr Smith are here...if not to hand this man into me and my sister's care.”

Oliver put his hand on his sister's shoulder and whispered. “Thea, you're making a scene, and you'll blow dad's cover. Who knows what chaos it will bring if people know Robert Queen is alive again, even for a little while?! I don't like her any more than you do, but you need to apologize to Isabel before she does something we'll all regret!”

After Robert whispered something into Isabel's ear, the brunette's mood visibly brightened, and Isabel was smiling again as she looked at Thea and said. “It's okay, Thea. Yours and Oliver's animosity towards me is perfectly understandable given my recent interactions with your family. I won't hold that feeling against you. I only ask that you speak civilly to me from this point forward...”

Isabel stepped close to Thea, and Oliver was about to stand in Isabel's way, before the brunette said, “Trust me. Your sister needs to hear what I'm about to say.”

Oliver then reluctantly stepped out of the way after Robert nodded at his son, leaving Isabel free to whisper into Thea Queen's ear, which was now as pale as her face. “Thea, I know that you and your brother hate me. I earned that hatred, so I can live with that. But your father...your real father, in every way that matters, loves you and Oliver more than anything, or anyone. else.” Thea's eyes widened, and Isabel gulped, as Thea fully took in the implications of that last sentence, before Isabel continued whispering. “Do you really want to break your father's heart, dishonor all the sacrifices he's made for you, by speaking to him like this? I'm no longer deluded enough to think, if he's given an ultimatum, if he's forced to choose, between me, or you and Oliver, that Robert won't pick you two 100% of the time. But do you really think that would be fair to him? Moira got a second, and even third, chance at true happiness with Walter, and from what I've read online, you and Oliver have supported your mother's decisions to love again, despite her and Walter's past mistakes. Doesn't your father deserve the same chance? Like it or not, your father loves me. And I love him. And I make him happy. If you really want to risk ruining your father's happiness, perhaps for the rest of his life, just so you can get revenge on me, I can't stop you. But you'll have to live with that decision for the rest of your life.”

Isabel smiled at Thea as she stepped away from her. The younger woman was visibly holding back tears as Isabel said in a light, pleasant tone. “I trust we understand each other, better now, Miss Queen?”

Thea nodded. “Yes, Miss Rochev. I'm sorry for my rudeness. Now, what are you and...Mr. Smith here to discuss with my brother and me?”

Robert smiled. “I made us all a dinner reservation at the restaurant in this hotel. That was for ten minutes ago, however, and the name “Smith” doesn't carry the same weight as Queen in this town, so I can only hope we can still be seated. I trust you remember this place, Oliver and Thea?”

Oliver nodded. “I remember. You and mom used to bring me and Thea here all the time as kids. Did you and Isabel....”

Robert shook his head. “No. Think what you like about me, Oliver, but I was never that stupid. Up till now, I have never taken Isabel to any of the Queen family's usual leisure spots. But I thought you and Thea might prefer to have this discussion in a familiar setting.”

Isabel nodded. “It's true. I've never been to this restaurant before in my life, nor did I choose this location. Your father planned everything out, I’m just along for the ride.”

After a short, heated conversation with the host, and Oliver apologizing on “Mr. Smith’s” behalf for being late for their reservation, the Queen siblings, their father, and Isabel all started following the waiter to their table, but as soon as they were all seated Robert turned to Isabel and said. “Can you do me a favor, darling? Service can be a bit slow here for drinks. Please get me something from the bar. You know how quickly I get thirsty these days, since Tahiti. And get yourself something as well, if you'd like. Oliver, Thea, do you want anything?”

After both of the Queen siblings shook their head, Isabel nodded, accepting her lover's veiled request for a brief moment alone with his children for what it was as she said. “Of course. I think I know just what we both need for a night like this. I'll be right back.”

As soon as Isabel was out of hearing range, Robert turned his gaze towards Thea and spoke in a voice just loud enough that only the people at the table could hear him. “Thea, did Isabel threaten you in the lobby just now? As much as I care for her, and I've forgiven the woman's past transgressions, I will not allow Miss Rochev to hurt either one of you ever again. So if she threatened you, just say the word, and Oliver and I will incapacitate....” Robert emphasized this last word as he looked at his son and continued speaking. “Isabel, then get you to safety.”

Oliver nodded at his father and whispered. “There is an ARGUS prison cell with Isabel's name on it if she hurts or double-crosses this family in anyway, ever again. Miss Rochev won't escape from that place, nor will she be harmed there.”

Thea sighed and held her head in her hands. “That won't be necessary...I guess. Isabel hasn't threatened anyone in this family since you came back to Starling two months ago. She did tell me something important though. Something insane that I didn't want to believe, but it's the only explanation that explains the crazy situation we're in right now.”

Robert raised his eyebrow, even as the man smiled. “I didn't think Isabel would threaten you or Oliver again. But it's good to be proven right. What did Isabel tell you, Thea?”

Thea sighed. “That Isabel loves you...or thinks she does, which Oliver and I already knew. But she also said that, even after everything that's happened, after everything she's put this family through...you still love her.”

Oliver clinched his teeth together. “Is that true, dad!? Even after all the things she's done, even the....” Robert's son cleared his throat awkwardly. “Thing that I told you about, you still love Isabel!? How could you, Mr. right my wrongs, this is your responsibility now, be a better man than me, all of that, possibly still love Isabel!? How could you willingly stay with her?!”

Thea crossed her arms. “I would like to know that myself, dad. You cheated on mom with this woman, and now you expect us to happy that you're just riding off into the sunset with Miss Rochev?!”

Robert got very quite for a moment, and their was an angry look on his face that belied his whispered words when he spoke again. “Listen to me, both of you. I don't expect you to agree with all of my choices. Hell, I'm ashamed of a lot of things I've done myself, and I hope you both make better decisions in your lives than I have in mine. But you two are adults now. Old enough to know that decisions aren't always black or white. Right or wrong. For instance, yes, I am ashamed that I cheated on your mother when Moira and I were married. Nor am I proud of some of the things that Isabel has done in recent years. And she has told me about all of her sins, Oliver, just as I've told her all of mine. But she and I forgave each other for all of them. And I can't be sorry for having had Isabel, the woman I love, in my life, or that our decisions lead to Isabel and me being here for each other, loving each other, and making each other happy, in the here and now. No more than you can be sorry, Oliver, for your current relationship with Sara, who was an assassin for five years, despite how your relationship with her began. Or you, Thea, for your relationship with Roy Harper. He used to be a thief, am I right?”

Thea shook her head. “That's not the same thing! Oliver, Roy, Sara, and me are all better people now. Besides, Roy and I love each other, and so do Oliver and Sara...”

Thea's eyes widened as she continued speaking, even as Robert Queen grinned. “And that's what your trying to tell us? That, not only do you still love Isabel, and believe she loves you...you think she's a better person now? After spending only two months with you?”

Robert nodded. “Yes. Love is funny that way. It can bring out the absolute worst in people. But under the right circumstances, it can also bring out the best in a person. And I believe that Isabel and I are doing just that for each other, now that she and I can have a relationship out in the open as John and Summer Smith in New York. That's why I wanted to bring her along to see you both. I wanted you to see for herself that Isabel is a better person now. That your father is in good hands. I would stake my life on it.”

Robert chuckled. “Actually, I already have, and it's worked out pretty well for me so far. I also wanted all the important people in my life to know about each other this time. I don't want there to be any more secrets, any more lies, between the four of us. You two don't have to agree with my decisions. But I am your father, and I ask that you respect my choice to keep Isabel in my life, even as I continue visiting the two of you as often as time and circumstances allow, without raising suspicion of my identity.”

Oliver sighed. “Ok. Since it doesn't seem like Thea and I have much choice in the matter, at least unless Isabel tries to hurt somebody in our family, we can accept you choosing to be with Isabel again. But can't the two of you at least stay in Starling until you die, so that me and Thea can see you more? I mean, you look far better than I expected you to, under the circumstances, and I'm guessing that Isabel is trying to feed your illness into oblivion while she stress eats herself, from the looks of you two...not that I'm judging, or anything. But you are still, in fact, dying, aren't you, dad?”

A brunette woman cleared her throat while standing behind Oliver. “No, he's not. Your father is cured of his neurological disorder. And he hasn't had Botox, Robert has become young again. I'm guessing as a delayed effect of his resurrection in the Lazarus Pitt, which kicked in right after your father was cured of his illness. Robert, here's your vodka, dear, just like you like it. But be sure to drink your water too. Doctor Archibald said it's important for you to stay hydrated. I would have gotten myself a water too, but then I wouldn't have been able to carry my own vodka to the table.”

After Isabel had sat down at the table, she shot a nervous smile, first towards Robert, then to Oliver and Thea and said. “Is everything in order here?'

Thea and Oliver both nodded, and the younger woman sighed before she said. “Everything's just fine, Ms. Rochev. Can you explain what you mean about our father not dying anymore though? Please?”

Isabel nodded with a more genuine smile while a waiter finally arrived to take Oliver and Thea's drink order (a large bottle of non-alcoholic wine for the siblings to split), and Isabel added a water to her order. Isabel and Robert told Oliver and Thea all about the clinic in Tahiti, and Robert's three painful weeks of neurological treatments. Robert went out of his way to emphasize all of the numerous ways that Isabel had taken care of him during that time (minus the sex, of course), and how she had encouraged him enough to get through the painful process. Robert smiled as he held Isabel's hand on top of the table. “I never would have even considered starting an experimental treatment like this, much less gotten through three weeks of hell and come out as healthy as a horse, on the other side, if it weren't for Isabel, who spent $30 million of her own money to make me well again, then saw me through treatment. Isabel saved my life. She gave me a second chance, as well as my freedom. How could I do anything less than give her a second chance in return?”

Oliver and Thea had to admit to themselves that they had no answer to that question, so the table had been silent for several seconds when the waiter finally came back with a loaf of bread for an appetizer, a water for Isabel, and Oliver and Thea's non-alcoholic beverage, and started to take their order. Oliver quickly ordered a pasta dish, while Thea had settled for a salad, but Isabel and Robert took a little bit longer to decide what they wanted to, or rather, should, order. Feeling a little self-conscious about his weight after his son had brought the subject up, Robert was about to order a caesar salad, before Isabel said. “You should get the steak with a loaded baked potato, Robert. You told me on the way here that was always your favorite dish at this restraunt. Besides, it'll help you keep your iron levels up.”

Robert smiled at Isabel's subtle reassurance that she didn't find his size, or his appetite, off-putting, then told the waiter. “What can I say? My wife knows me well. I would like the largest steak in your kitchen please, cooked medium rare, with a loaded baked potato for a side.”

Robert then turned towards Isabel. “And what would you like to eat, my dear?”

Isabel sighed. “Well, my brain says salad, since I've put on a bit of weight lately. But my heart says lobster.”

Robert chuckled at the mischievous grin on Isabel's face when she had mentioned the lobster.. “We haven't gone as far as we have together without listening to our hearts, have we? Besides, I think you look great! Get the lobster. It's delicious! Definitely one of the best dishes here, and worth every calorie!”

Isabel beamed at her lover, then spoke to the waiter. “Lobster it is then!”

Oliver and Thea could only look at each other in confusion at the particular display, but the night's events would only get weirder for them as the evening continued. It started out with small things, like the couple eating the rest of the bread loaf together after Oliver only had two pieces, and Thea abstained entirely (“No carbs for me, thanks!”). The sibling had ignored this easily enough, as Robert told his children. “Isabel and I were actually planning to stay in Starling for a whole week, and I was hoping she and I would be able to see you two again at least a couple more times during this visit.”

Isabel had nodded at her lover's words, then added. “It's true. Rob...I mean, John, has been looking forward to seeing you two for a month. Which is only natural. But I also wanted to talk to you, Oliver, about a business proposal regarding hiring some of the people that lost their jobs due to Stellmoore International's...aggressive expansion. An aggressive expansion that, now that your father has been able to help me see things more clearly, I'm ashamed to have lead. I have a list of people who lost their jobs due to my efforts. I also have $70 million that I would be willing to donate to Queen Consolidated, for the purpose of hiring as many of the people whose livelihoods I've ruined, as possible. And don't worry, even after I give up the remnants of the money I got from liquating my remaining QC shares, your father and I will still have the billions that we acquired from liquating my Stellmoore International shares, by selling that company to Wayne Enterprises, while Robert and I were in New York. That's what Slade Wilson gets for naming me CEO of that company in his will, in the event of his death, I guess. Anyway, that $70 million would just be to start hiring the people I've wronged, of course, Let me and Robert know how much more QC will need to get those individuals new jobs.”

Oliver frowned.. “That's...unexpectedly generous of you, Isabel. I would be interested in seeing that list of people you had fired, to see if any of them are competant enough to work for QC, so you can e-mail or fax that to my office later. But actually, Queen Consolidated has been doing pretty well lately. Since we recently started marketing and selling several inventions for a small start-up company called Palmer Tech, which we have recently partnered with, money has been rolling in, and my company is already in the process of expanding. I think we can afford to hire the people whose jobs you ripped away, without your help. I'm sure you and my fat...Mr. Smith...can find better uses for your fortune anyway, What's your plans after this week, anyway? Jaunting around the world on in endless vacation?”

Robert shook his head. “Far from it, Oliver. Isabel and I have gotten quite comfortable in our three bedroom penthouse apartment in New York. Actually, I really hope you and Thea can visit us there sometime, and feel free to bring Sara and Roy along, if you'd like. New York isn't Starling, but it has enough spirit to make a good second home for me and Isabel. And we've decided...actually, that's not correct, it's more like Isabel decided, and I agreed, that we should try to make our new hometown a better place for people of all walks of life. That's why Isabel and I are going to start a charity in New York to support a chain of soup kitchens and homeless shelters, starting in the state of New York, and hopefully, extending around the country, and perhaps parts of Mexico and Canada. A highly ambitious goal, I know. But it's a far worthier endeavor than anything I even attempted to do as a CEO.”

Oliver nodded. “That sounds like a good way to spend a few billion. As soon as you and Isabel get your charity off the ground. I'll have some of QC's lawyers take a look at your non-profit organization, see if it has a good, ethical business model. If everything checks out, Queen Consolidated will be one of your first corporate sponsors if your charity decides to set up shop in Starling. In the Glades, perhaps?.”

Robert smiled. “Yes, the Glades would make a fine home for a new soup kitchen and homeless shelter within a few years. Thank you, Oliver. That would mean a lot to me. And to Isabel. The whole thing was her idea, after all,”

Thea frowned and looked at Isabel. “Really? It was your idea to start a charity? I mean, with all due respect, all the companies you've run have definitely had a 'profit first, people second' mindset.”

Isabel nodded, nibbled at a piece of bread for a few seconds, then replied. “You're right. Most of my life, I have been...more than a little self-absorbed. After having...well, let's just say it wasn't the best childhood, I came to believe that I always had to put myself, and my own needs, first, because nobody else was going to. I know that even the way that I've loved in the past has often been selfish. And I'm so sorry for that...”

Isabel shot Robert a sad smile, and her lover squeezed her hand reassuringly under the table before she continued speaking. “But I realize now that putting myself first doesn't make me happy, or even safe. It just hurts me and the people around me. So,..” Isabel lowered her voice to a whisper. “When Robert was still...sick. The night before his treatments started I...this is going to sound silly, because I didn't even know at the time if there is a supernatural world, but...I made a promise to all the deities and higher powers I ever heard about, that if your father were healed, I would dedicate my life to being a better person. To helping people. And, since the doctor in Tahiti didn't even seem that sure his treatment could help Robert, I believe that at least one God , although I wouldn't hazard to guess which one, answered my prayer. And now, I am determined to hold up my end of the deal. That may sound like a bunch of new age bullshit to you and your brother, Thea, but...”

“No...” Thea shook her head. “That doesn't sound like bullshit at all. I mean, the important thing is that my father is alive. But...if you believe that a some god is responsible, and that helps you to become a better person, than I'm all for that. Anything that keeps you from becoming an ice queen again is good. ”

Robert smiled. “I'm not sure whether I share Isabel's belief that it wasn't science that healed me, but I certainly can't rule out that possibility. And like you, I intend to fully support Isabel's beliefs, as well as her desire to be a better person. Now, let's move onto a lighter subject, please? Oliver, what can you tell me about my grandson, that I just recently found out about? You told me that you recently got visitation rights to a little boy named William...”

The mood at the table had picked up considerably by the time that the main course had arrived. During the course of the meal (during which Robert and Isabel had “a tiny taste” of each others dishes, loved them, and decided to split the steak and potato, as well as the lobster, equally between them), after making small talk about their lives for awhile, the Queen siblings had agreed to meet with their father a couple more times before he left for New York again. Oliver and Thea had even agreed that Isabel could come along too, since they believed saving their father's life had earned the brunette a second chance. Furthermore, Oliver had promised that “I'll see what I can do about letting you see William, dad. Samantha always liked you more than mom, after all...but I can't promise anything.” Oliver also promised to retrieve an important, hidden item in the Queen mansion for his father, although Robert refused to disclose exactly what the object was, or what it was for.

All too soon, however, the dinner was over, as Thea had to “Get back to the Verdant! I do still have a night club to run!” Oliver, meanwhile, had Arrow business to attend to. After Oliver and Thea reluctantly agreed to let Isabel and Robert pick up the tab for their meal, the Queen siblings left the restaurant, but not before seeing Isabel shoot Robert a saucy a grin and muttering. “I guess we'll have dessert alone tonight, dear!” in a manner that made both of Robert's kids uncomfortable.

After the siblings had gotten into the limo that pulled up to get them in the hotel parking lot, Oliver turned towards Thea. “Well...that was different.”

Thea sighed and shook her head. “Yeah. It really was. I mean, besides the fact that our dad's decided to stay with Isabel, which I still can't wrap my head around, there's the way dad kept defending Isabel in conversation. And all the pet names. Ordering food for each other. Sharing food. Complimenting each other's appearance even though both Isabel and dad have gained a lot of weight! I mean, look, I get that Isabel saved dad's life, and she seems serious about starting a charity, so she may not be the devil. And if she's not lying, and Miss Rochev's whole 'turning over a new leaf' idea does actually hold, and she becomes a better person, than I say good for her. But still, the two of them can't have been together more than two months this time, and they're already acting like a content married couple who've known each other their whole lives, instead of two people that had a one-off affair years ago! And if they keep this up, they're going to be a very fat couple too!”

Oliver shook his head. “Let's leave the weight issue out of this discussion, shall we? This is the US, lots of people are fat. And since the particle accelarator explosion, it's not like gaining weight can hurt dad, so I'm not really worried about him or Isabel on that front. I'm more concerned about Isabel's motivations. If she's sincere about trying to be a better person or not. If she'll be willing to take care of dad and put his needs before her own. But I think I know why dad and Isabel are acting like this around each other.”

Thea lifted her right eyebrow as the driver started the ignition, then drove out of the parking spot in the direction of the Verdant, where he would drop Thea off to meet with Roy before the club opened for the night. “Really? You know why our father is acting like Isabel hangs the moon? I mean, seeing him and Isabel together was like a bad Twilight Zone episode. If not for the chronological age difference, I would have assumed that our dad had been married to Isabel, not our mother, for years, based on the way they were acting tonight! I'm not sure I've ever seen dad look that happy...even around mom.”

Oliver chuckled. “I think part of that has to do with the fact that mom would have never let dad eat like that while our parents were married. You remember how much she used to get onto dad whenever he ate anything unhealthy?”

Thea laughed. “I remember. And she would always get all passive aggressive about it, too. I remember one time, when we came to that restaruant as a family she said something like. 'Enjoy your steak, Robert. And try not to worry about your cholesterol, or how all the fat in that big chunk of meat could clog your arteries and stop your heart.' Even as a kid, I thought that was in bad taste. And yeah, Isabel is clearly a lot more laid back concerning dad's eating habits...and her own. Which is really weird, considering she used to be so skinny. But you know that's not what I'm talking about Oliver. I'm wondering where this weird, unspoken connection between our father and Isabel even started.”

Oliver sighed. “I know what you're talking about. I haven't seen dad like this around mom either. But then, I don't think our dad had been happy being married to mom for a long time before he died, or maybe ever. I recently told you that, for a time, during the five years I was missing, I was forced to work for a government organization called ARGUS, and they made me go back to Starling, incognito, for a little while to infiltrate Queen Consolidated. While there, I discovered a message...”

Thea nodded. “That's right. You told me about the message dad left you, telling you that the people on the List were bad people that were responsible for all of Starling City's woes, and that those people needed to be stopped. By any means necessary.”

Oliver nodded. “Yes. But last time, I left out one important detail. In that message, dad specifically said their was one exception . One person on the List who had actually been helping him aid this city, instead of hurting it, and that I should leave that person alone, not hunt her down.”

Thea shook her head and let out a long breathe. “Let me guess, Isabel Rochev?”

Oliver nodded. “Yes. Even in death, our dad was trying to protect Isabel. I think that's one reason that I trusted Isabel more than I should have earlier this year, even foolishly signing over the rights to QC for a time. I wanted to trust dad's judgement. That underneath her angry exterior, despite all evidence to the contrary, Isabel was this good person that dad had believed in. I can't believe I didn't see the signs then...”

Thea shook her head. “Oliver, that's not your fault. If dad had indicated that Isabel could be trusted, you had no way of knowing he was wrong about....”

Oliver grimaced. “Thanks. But that's not what I'm talking about, Thea. I mean, I should have seen the signs that dad and Isabel had a lengthy, serious affair before he died. The way he talked about her in that video...the look in his eyes...I should have picked up on it. Later, after Isabel stole our family's company for a while, and mom told me about Isabel's affair with dad, I went to confront Isabel about it, and Miss Rochev claimed that she was our father's soulmate, and that at one point, dad had even been prepared to leave mom for her. Of course, at the time, I thought she was just severely overestimating the importance of her role in our dad's life, but even then, it was clear Isabel really believed what she was saying. That she really had been...no, still is, in love with our father, and that he was...is, in love with her..”

Thea gulped. “Oliver...what are you saying?'

Oliver sighed. “I don't think Isabel, nor dad, ever saw their affair as a casual fling. I think dad had fallen out with mom years before that affair started, and that he and Isabel really did fall for each other during the course of their affair. And based upon the message dad left just weeks before his death, and tonight's events...I don't think dad ever really fell out of love with Isabel, even after the bad things she's done. I think...maybe, Isabel and dad have loved each other too much, for too long, and have too much history, fot them to stop loving each other now.”

Thea snorted . “Yeah. That will last until he gets bored of Isabel, like he did with mom, and falls out of love with her too. I mean, I do want dad to be happy, so I hope I'm wrong about him and Isabel...but given our dad's romantic history, I rather doubt it. Honestly, if dad hadn't cheated on mom with Isabel years ago, and that woman hadn't caused our family so much misery lately, I would feel sorry for her. Especially seeing as she saved dad's life by making him go through treatments in Tahiti. I bet that why she and dad have both gotten so big lately. They're both probably stress eating, worrying that their 'love' could die at any moment.”

Oliver nodded. “You're probably right.”

Thea wanted to take her brother's words at face value, wanted to believe she was right about Robert and Isabel's relationship being a doomed one. But their was something about the way Oliver was constantly running his right thumb and forefinger together, and wouldn't make eye contact with her as her brother stared out the window at the downtown traffic from the back of the limo, that told Thea her brother knew something. Finally, after she couldn't take it anymore after several minutes, Thea sighed. “You obviously know something I don't about this situation, Oliver, so spill.”

Oliver sighed deeply. “I don't know anything. But...ever since the day you and I watched dad and Isabel make out, then leave for Tahiti, in that airport, I think I've been remembering something.”

Thea frowned. “Like a flashback? The ones you sometimes have when you space out and stare into the distance for several minutes at a time?”

Oliver had a non-plussed look on his face. “I do that?”

Thea nodded. “Oh yeah. All the time. Everybody just kinds of writes it off as you rocking a major case of PTSD after the five years you were...missing, so nobody really talks about it in front of you.”

Oliver shrugged. “Huh.” The man then shook his head. “That's not what I'm talking about right now, though. It's more like...a recurring dream I've been having every night since that day at the airport. But I'm starting to think it might actually be a memory. One that I chose to forget a long time ago.”

Thea frowned.. “ Like a suppressed memory?” Oliver just shrugged again, so Thea decided to press on. “What happens in this dream memory of yours?”

Oliver sighed. “In the dream...I'm like nine, maybe ten, years old. It's the middle of the night, and I'm going down the steps in the mansion toward... the kitchen, I think. Maybe for a glass of water. I don't know, because I never get there. Instead, I hear mom and dad arguing in the study. I'm worried about them, so I decide to spy on them through a crack in the door. Mom and dad are young, like they were when we were kids, and dad is again now, and dad says something like 'How could you sleep with Merlyn, Moira? How could you not tell me he is our daughter's biological father?!”

Thea cast her eyes downwards. “So, in this memory, mom and dad were fighting because of me?”

Oliver sighed and shook his head. “Like I said, it's a dream. It might not be a real memory. Besides, the dream doesn't end there...”

Thea sighed. “Dare I ask what happens next?”

Oliver took that as permission to continue speaking. “Anyway, in the dream, our parents keep arguing, and mom yells back something like. 'It's not like you've always been the most faithful husband, Robert!' To which dad responds that at least he never sired any ba...illegitimate children. And mom comes back with “No, you just slept with your best friend, and got me pregnant so we had to get married! You're the reason we're both trapped in this loveless marriage, in which neither of us has ever been in love with the other!”

Oliver shook his head.. “I don't remember much else. Just little me running back up the stairs as fast as my little legs could carry me. That's pretty much it.”

Oliver sighed. “And that's were the dream always ends. And like I said, I don't even know if was real or not. But if that is a real memory...”

Thea nibbled her bottom lip nervously. “Then maybe mom and dad really weren't right for each other?”

Oliver just shrugged noncommittally, so Thea folded her arms in front of  
her and scowled. “Maybe that's true. And maybe it isn't. Even if that is the case...Look, I could buy Walter being the great love of mom's life, instead of dad, because Walter treats her better than dad ever did. But there's just no way that Isabel is dad's soulmate! I mean, overlooking the fact that their relationship started out as an affair, Miss Rochev has been a horrible, nasty women! That ice queen hurt our family, Oliver....”

Oliver nodded. “I know, Thea. I had to suffer from the fallout of a lot of Isabel's bad choices, too. Even more than you did.”

Thea smirked. “Now that sounds like an interesting story...”

But Oliver quickly cut Thea off with a nauseous look on his face. “Not one you want to hear, trust me. Just let me ask you a question. When you saw Isabel and dad at the restaurant today, did you see a philanderer and an ice queen? Or did you see a happy, in love couple?”

Thea sighed and pinched the tip of her nose. “I saw a happy, madly in love fat couple, alright?! Is that what you want to hear? Do you really want Isabel to be the love of our dad's life, and for the two of them to be together forever?”

Oliver shrugged. “I don't know. I do know that, when dad died, he was in abject misery. Tonight, with Isabel, dad was the happiest I've ever seen him. And there isn't much I wouldn't give for our father to have a happier life than he did last time, even if that means forgiving all of the things Isabel has done to the Queen family.”

Back at the restaurant, Robert was about to pick up the check for the table when a loud rumbling sound coming from the man's stomach caused Isabel to laugh and effectionately pat her lover's belly. “It sounds like somebody's still hungry! Maybe we really should order some dessert!”

Robert blushed and shook his head. “I don't know, Isabel. It's almost closing time, and I don't want to overwork the wait staff. Besides, I wasn't kidding when I said I've been putting on a lot of weight lately, Moira would have been furious if I'd gotten this big when I was married to her...”

The Queen patriarch shook his head. “I'm sorry, Isabel. I know I shouldn't have brought up Moira...”

Isabel forced a smile and whispered. “It's okay, slip ups happen. But know this, I'm not Moira, Robert. I wasn't kidding when I said I thought your new weight suited you...or when I implied I wouldn't mind if you got fat. Actually...now that I finally have you all to myself, and you don't have to worry about upsetting your ex, I think I would enjoy having more of you to love! Because I love you that much. Always and unconditionally. Even if you became the fattest man on Earth. So if eating makes you happy, then eat. Stop caring so much what others think of your weight. Your happiness is all that matters.”

Robert smiled. “Well, when you put it that way...I guess we could order a dessert to go! Also, I suppose I don't really need to watch my weight if you would enjoy having a fat husband. And just so you know, I...”

Robert shook his head. “Forget it.”

Isabel frowned. “No. What is it, Robert? You can tell me anything.”

The Queen patriarch sighed. “If you insist. I was just thinking I'd tell you...since you seem to be just as self-conscious of your weight as I am...when you and I were together the first time...you were actually the thinnest woman I'd ever slept with. Hell even...my ex-wife was quite a bit plumper when I married her, although she lost all the weight shortly after Oliver was born. My point is...to answer a question you asked me a while ago, I do like fat women. Not that you are, or ever have been, fat or anything...”

Isabel raised her right eyebrow. “I believe you. And I'm certainly not going to judge you for your preferences. But I must know...if I was never all that big, why did you want to have an affair with me in  
the first place?”

Robert smiled. “Because I'd already fallen in love with you by then. With your eyes, your smile, the way you always put my needs ahead of your own, even volunteering to get me food or coffee in the middle of the day, or offering to work later than I asked you to in order to help with projects. I saw, even back then, that under your stoic exterior, you had a good heart. And as you've proven lately, despite some...setbacks in the past few years, you are a good person. You're beautiful inside and out. That's why I love you, and will never give up on you.”

Isabel smiled and squeezed Robert's hand with her own while holding back tears. “I love you too, so much! Thank you for believing in me, even when no one else did! Thank you for not giving up on me...even after I've done some terrible things!!”

Robert smiled. “ I told you, I forgave you for all that. Besides, It is I who should thank you for being their for me in the last two months, Isabel! And I only told you what I did about my...preferences so you wouldn't worry so much about your weight. I love you the way you are, so I'm not trying to put pressure on you or anything. You don't have to gain weight if you don't want to.”

Isabel smiled wickedly. “ That's sweet, but...If anything, Robert, you've taken a lot of pressure off me. To think, all this time, I've been worried about getting too fat for you, when I should have been chowing down without a care in the world! And now that I know you like fat women, I'm going to eat anything, everything, I've ever denied myself in the past! My ship has come in, dear, and it's a gravy boat!”

Robert laughed. “Yes, I guess you could look at it that way, if you wish. By all means, Isabel, eat to your hearts content, if that is what will make you happy! I'd love to have even more of you to hold at night as well!”

Isabel nodded her head with a serious look on her face and whispered. “Okay, I will. Just one thing...I don't want to get too big for you. So please tell me a little bit more about the weight range that you like on a woman. If it's not too personal for me to ask: How much did the biggest woman you've ever slept with weigh?”

Robert stroked his beard for a moment to consider the question, then whispered back . “I don't know exactly. She had to have been over 500 pounds, though.”

Isabel sighed with relief. “Oh, good, that leaves a lot of wiggle room, then! I can keep eating whatever I want for about a decade, and then when I start getting too close to 500 pounds, I can start tapering off...”

Robert shook his head and interrupted Isabel. “No, you misunderstand me, Isabel. That 500+ pound woman was just the heaviest, decent looking woman that I ever had the chance to sleep with. She wasn't the heaviest woman that I ever found attractive. Actually, I...”

Robert blushed and whispered.” I don't really have an upper weight limit for what I find attractive on women! The bigger the better! That's my motto! As I said, Isabel, I don't mean to pressure you, but turnabout is fair play. I would still love you if you became the fattest woman of all time!”

Isabel smiled. “Oh, you shouldn't have said that! Because from now on, I'm going to be eating non-stop so I can get absolutely enormous for you, Robert! And since I know how much you love to eat, and I don't want to be the only fatty in this relationship, I'm going to make sure you're always stuffed to the brim with delicious food too! Let's take the leap and become a...”

Isabel leaned in to whisper in Robert's ear with her most seductive tone of voice. “Fat! Happy! Couple! Wouldn't that be so sexy, baby?!”

Robert Queen gulped and whispered back. “ Well...you're right that I do love to eat. I always have, so...Yes. I think I would like that. I would like that very much!'”

Robert smiled as he flagged down the nearest waiter. “Excuse me sir, I would like to get the check now, if you’d be so kind...also...”Robert grinned wickedly at Isabel. “My wife and I would like to order the cheesecake displayed near the front of this restaurant to go!”

The waiter nodded. “The plain cheesecake for two? An excellent choice, sir...”

Robert shook his head. “No. I meant the bigger one. The party-sized chocolate cheesecake!”

The waiter smirked. “Wanting leftovers for the next few weeks, I see? That's smart. Unfortunately, that cheesecake has been out for awhile, and it will be expired by tomorrow evening! The chef was just about to throw it out, actually.”

Robert frowned. “Then please stop him from doing so! My wife and I have big appetites...” Isabel patted her potbelly to emphasize her lover's point as Robert continued speaking, “And I'm sure she and I could finish it tonight!”

The waiter looked a little disgusted at Isabel's display as he said. “Sir, that cheesecake is big enough to feed ten people!”

Isabel smiled, then gazed at Robert in a seductive manner. “Or two fatties! My husband and I just quit our diets for good this evening! We've decided we want to chow down and live life in the fat lane!”

The waiter sneered at Robert and Isabel. “I see. Well, since you two are so hungry, I will see if I can rescue that cheesecake for you then.”

After the waiter vanished, Isabel and Robert chuckled a little, and the brunnete said. “Did I take things too far, there?”

Robert shook his head. “Probably, but the look on that man's face was priceless!”

Isabel smiled. “You know what would serve that weight bigot right? Seeing as we're going to be visiting Starling periodically to see your children, and hopefully, your grandson, why don't we wait until we've both gained a lot of weight, say, a hundred pounds or so, each, and show that waiter that we meant what we said about getting fatter?! If you were serious about being okay with us both getting fat, that is.”

Robert smiled and squeezed Isabel's hand. “I meant every word. Like you said, happiness is what matters.”

Isabel grinned back. “Actually, I think that's always been the unofficial motto of our relationship. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I would love to grow old and fat with you, Robert Queen!”

Isabel and Robert were still holding hands and gazing lovingly into each other's eyes when the waiter came back to their table with a large box and the check, sneered at the couple, and said. “Your cheesecake and your check. Good night!” The waiter then departed the table without another word.

Isabel frowned as she opened the top of the box to inspect the cheesecake. “Well, that man was rude! At least the cheesecake looks great, though!”

Robert nodded. “I'll take your word for it, Isabel! Why don't you call for a cab while I pay for the check. I'm going to give our waiter a measly 15% tip and write him a strongly worded comment about treating customers with respect, and being less judgmental about people's life choices. If you and I want to eat to our hearts' content and blow up like the Goodyear blimp, that's our choice, and that doesn't give anyone the right to be rude to us!”

Isabel smiled as she dialed the number for a cab on her phone. “Damn right!”

Robert smiled as he wrote his comment on the bill. “I happen to know that the wait staff here split their tips. I'm sure this man's fellow employees will...encourage our waiter to be friendlier to us, and other overweight individuals, in the future!”

….Later that night...

Isabel and Robert were sitting down on the bed in their hotel room, completely naked, looking at the large cheesecake on the nearby wooden table, along with the two plastic forks and plates it had come with, with some trepidation. Robert gulped. “So how do you want to do this, Isabel? Mixing food and sex sounds great, in theory, but in practice, I don't know what to do.”

Isabel smiled. “I have an idea.” Isabel then cut a single slice off the cheesecake, put it on plate, then returned to the bed. “Let me feed you, Robert.”

Robert nodded as Isabel fed him bite after bite of decadent chocolate cheesecake. Althogh the man certainly appreciated the sensations caused by the most beautiful woman he had ever seen feeding him the sinfully sweet dessert, he wasn't sure exactly how this activity would relate to sex...until Isabel “accidentally” spilled the last bit of chocolate cheesecake onto her left breast and chuckled. “Oops. I accidentally made a mess of myself...can you help me clean it up, dear?”

Robert nodded enthusiastically, then licked the offered breast clean, noticing how much plumper his lover's breasts had grown over the past two months, as well as how the excess fat on the woman's bosom was just starting to push Isabel's breast down due to her new pounds. This observation greatly aroused Robert Queen, and by the time the man was done fondling and licking off Isabel's left breast, the man had a raging hard on,

Isabel's smiled at her boyfriend's enlarged member, but shook her head as she said, “Nah uh. Not until you feed me too, honey.”

The Queen patriarch smiled as he retrieved another slice of cheesecake and started feeding it to Isabel. “Whatever you desire, dear.”

However, by the time their were only a couple bites of the second slice left, Robert was confused about what to do next. “Um...Isabel? I don't know what you want me to do here. I don't have the same...err...equipment as you, after all.”

Isabel smiled. “Well, obviously, I like this...”Isabel briefly ran her hand across the length of Robert's penis, causing the man to gasp aloud, before she moved both her hands to Roberts pecs and squeezed them. “And I like your nipples almost as much as you like mine. But I also think your belly button is really, really sexy..”

Robert smirked. “Really, then how would your react if I did...” The man dropped the remains of the second slice right on top of his belly button. “This?”

Isabel smirked back. “Let's find out.” The brunette then proceeded to gently eat the remains of the chocolate slice out of Robert's belly button while her hands alternated between gently squeezing and rubbing her hands along Robert's pot belly. Isabel then finished off the display by inserting her tongue deep into Robert's belly button, practically making love to the man's belly with her tongue as she licked out every last morsel of cheesecake that had been stuck there.

Isabel then grinned at Robert and said. “That was delicious...and hot. If you're as horny as I am, let's fuck!”

Robert and Isabel then proceeded to make love for the next few minutes. Their first sexual encounter of the evening was short-lived, since both Robert and Isabel were already turned on beyond belief, but they still came simultaneously while shouting each other's names.

After a few minutes of basking in the afterglow in each other's arms, Isabel turned towards Robert, then pointed towards the cheesecake. “More?”

Robert nodded his head. “Yes, please!”

Robert and Isabel then proceeded to feed each other the entire cheesecake over the next several hours, in between lovemaking sessions. In the end, no part of either lover's anatomy was spared, as the man and woman ended up each taking progressively larger bites of the dessert off of each other's nipples, bellies, and thighs, and Isabel even gave her lover a blow job while simultaneously sucking some chocolate cheesecake directly off her lover's cock. By the end of the evening, the couple had comfortably slipped into a deeply pleasurable cycle where sex was rewarded with food, eating was rewarded with sex, until their libidos could hardly tell the difference between eating and fucking anymore. So it was no surprise that, after the couple ate the last two whole piece of cheesecake directly off each other's asses, the painfully full couple somehow managed to have sex for over an hour, nor that Robert and Isabel alternated between rubbing each other's stuffed bellies, and gently squeezing each other's plump limbs, ass, thighs, or (to Robert's embarrassment) -breasts, as they did so.

Thankfully, although several hotel guests in nearby penthouse levels heard Robert and Isabel's loud lovemaking sessions that night, none of them alerted hotel management, either out of embarrassment, or because, in the case of some other guest couples, they were participating in similar activities. So the two lovers were blissfully unaware of the racket they had had caused as Isabel and Robert, filthy as they were from the sweat, cum, and chocolate cheesecake bits that still covered their bodies, held each other close. Robert smiled. “ You know, this was a wonderful idea! I'm painfully full right now, and I don't even care! That is the best sex I've ever had! I think I'm going to enjoy getting fat with you, dear!”

Isabel smiled. “I feel the same way, honey. Mixing food and sex makes for the best lovemaking ever! And your newly restored youth certainly hasn't hurt your stamina, either! I can't wait tell we both get so fat that we can eat and make love all night without even getting full! Won't that be so hot, baby?!”

Robert chuckled. “Why do I get the feeling we're going to end up like one of those massive couples that are so fat, they need scooters to get anywhere?! And why doesn't that bother me?!”

Isabel smiled as she situated herself in the bed so that her and Robert's full bellies were touching. “Because you know that you and I don't even need to get out of bed to express our love for each other, and because you know how hot I would be as a super-sized fatty! And now that I think about it, king-sized Robert Queen is a super sexy mental image as well!”

Robert mock-sighed. “ That settles it. I guess we really are destined to become two giant tubs of lard, aren’t we?”

Isabel smiled. “If we're lucky! I love you, Robert. Have a good night.”

Robert smiled. “I love you too, Isabel. Good night. Get some rest, you and I have big plans for tomorrow...' The chubby man smirked as he and Isabel rubbed each other's bellies as they slowly fell asleep. “In more ways than one...

The next day passed by quickly for Robert and Isabel, as the couple didn't wake up until almost noon, and they had to scramble to take a conference call from New York concerning the charity they were planning to set up. Robert and Isabel were just grateful that the conference call wasn't a video call, since they were both still very naked, and very dirty, from the events of the night before. The audio-only conference also gave the two lovers the opportunity to rub each other's stuffed bellies, although they both had to struggle not to moan when their own large belly was being rubbed, and they were both relieved when the three-hour call was over after the NYC official finally gave “the John and Summer Smith Charitable Foundation” the green light to set up shop in New York. After the conference call was over, however, the lovers were immediately beset by a new social obligation, as Oliver called to tell his father that, “Thea and I just had a hole open up in our schedules, and we were wondering if you and Isabel would like to meet us both for coffee in a couple hours or so. Also, I got that item you wanted me to retrieve, dad.”

“Of course! We would love to meet you two for coffee, Oliver!” Robert smiled, and after setting up a time and location to meet his children, the older man turned to Isabel. “Well, I guess we’d better get ready, then. Are you up for this? Meeting up with my children again so soon? Because I could go alone if that would make you more comfortable.”

Isabel shook her head. “No. You love your children, and Oliver and Thea will always be part of your life. I see that now, and it would be better if all four of us could learn to get along. I'm going with you. That being said...I think we have time for one quickie in the shower, beforehand don't you, dear?”

Robert laughed. “Sure. Why not?”

As the two lovers got in the shower, Isabel's stomach growled, and the brunette blushed. “And maybe we could get a bite to eat at the cafe? I know we ate a lot last night, but we haven't eaten all day, and I'm starving!”

Robert grinned as his belly growled as well while he turned on the hot water for the shower. “I guess we’d better, because I'm hungry too! Do you want to go to a buffet after we're done meeting Oliver and Thea? I haven't been to an all you can eat buffet in decades! Not since I got married to…never mind!”

Isabel chuckled as she and Robert washed each other's bodies, giving a little extra time to wash off each other's bellies as they did so. “ That oppressive ex-wife of yours?! Don’t worry, I’m nothing like her. I want you to have pleasure! Sure. I would love to go to a buffet! And then we should take things back here, to our room, and make love like there's no tomorrow!”

Robert smiled as he drew Isabel into a deep kiss, then turned the brunette around so that his now throbbing member could come inside Isabel from behind. “It sounds to me like all of our leisure time activities are going to revolve around eating and fucking from now on! Are you trying to turn us both into pigs, Isabel!?”

Isabel shuddered with pleasure as her lover quickly came inside her, over and over again, sweeping Isabel into a seemingly endless chain of orgasms. “Yes, Robert! Let's become fat, sexy pigs together!”

As Robert finally bottomed out inside the woman he was now more certain than ever was his soulmate, the two lovers both had to suppress the urge to scream in pleasure. Finally, however, after the two lovers came down, and Robert held a weak-kneed Isabel in his arms, the man spoke lovingly into his lover's ear. “That sounds like a great life-plan to me. I love you, Isabel!”

Isabel smiled. “I love you too, Robert! But we’d better get ready if we don't want to be late to see your kids!”

After the two lovers quickly finished their sexy shower, got dressed and made themselves look presentable, Robert called for his limo while Isabel called for room service to clean up the room while they were away. As luck would have it, the cleaning lady showed up just as the couple was leaving the room to go down to the limo, and Isabel smiled at the heavyset, Hispanic woman who came to clean the room and said. “We're so sorry about the mess! My husband and I sort of got...carried away last night! Here's a $100 tip for the extra trouble!” The cleaning laby smiled and laughed, then said something in Spanish as the couple left the room. As they did so, Robert forgot himself for a moment, and stopped to look at the cleaning lady's huge ass.

When Robert turned back to Isabel, however, the brunette just smirked at her lover as the elevator to the penthouse level closed with them inside it. “Don't worry, Robert! There's nothing wrong with looking at a beautiful woman! And as a proud bi-sexual, I feel no shame in saying that woman has a nice ass!”

Robert chuckled as the elevator continued to go down to the lobby. “ She does, doesn't she? I never knew you swung both ways, Isabel!”

Isabel smirked. “I did a lot of experimenting in college, Robert! Enough to know that my...preferences extend to all kinds of people! But don't worry. You're my soul-mate. And I will never cheat on you. Still, there's no harm in just looking.”

Robert smiled at Isabel. “My thoughts exactly! Besides, I know you wouldn't cheat on me. Nor would I cheat on you. And I still believe that you're my soulmate too. But this new piece of info does make me wonder if there's anything else I should know about you?”

Isabel gulped. “There is one thing you need to know...but can it please wait until after we talk to your children? I would like to handle one stressful situation at a time!”

Robert nodded. “Fair enough. But I should warn you that there's something important that I would like to talk to you about after we meet with my children as well.”

Isabel nodded. “I'm looking forward to it.”

The quick limo ride to the cafe passed by in silence, and Robert and Isabel were both nervous as they sat down at the small cafe next to Oliver and Thea. After Robert insisted on paying for everyone's drinks, and asked Oliver and Thea if they wanted anything to eat (an offer both Queen siblings declined) three of the adults ordered a coffee, Isabel ordered a water, and Robert and Isabel each ordered a large slice of cheesecake (an act which caused the two lovers to smile at each other). All four individuals ate and drank, and talked about their plans for the coming week. After Robert confessed that he and Isabel were both planning to take things easy and enjoy the sights of Starling for their remaining time in the city, Robert, Oliver, and Thea again discussed the possibility of arranging a visit between the two Queen siblings, Isabel, Robert, and William during Robert and Isabel's next visit to Starling, The Queen siblings also quickly made plans to see their father and Isabel one last time on the day they were going to depart Starling for NYC. Just a few minutes before Oliver and Thea had to leave, Oliver pulled his father outside, saying, “I need to talk to you in private a moment, dad!”

Isabel watched the conversation between father and son through a window, using her peripheral vision, seeing Oliver's lips form the words, “ I'm still freaked out that you're so young now. Anyway, are you sure about this, dad?” as the younger man gave his father a small item the brunette couldn't see. At the moment, Isabel didn't know if the lip-reading skill Slade had taught her was a blessing or a curse, as both men turned their back to the window, and Isabel couldn't figure out anything else they were saying. But Isabel sighed with relief when Oliver shook his dad's hand and hugged him.

Thea interrupted Isabel's train of thought as she spoke. “I'm wondering what they're talking about too. I'm also wondering what's going on with you and my dad's eating habits. I mean, I don't meant to be rude, but you and my father already seem slightly more...reubenesque, than you did yesterday, and then you both come in here and order cheesecake? I'm sorry, I know it's none of my business, but as Robert's daughter, I'm concerned that you two aren't even trying to stay in shape anymore.”

Isabel smiled pleasantly at Thea. “Robert and I are in shape, Thea. That shape just happens to be round!” Isabel patted her potbelly proudly as she added. “On a more serious note, Thea. Your father and I have both always loved to eat. Food brings us joy, makes us happy. Furthermore, Robert and I have recently decided that life is too short for us to count calories, and that our love for each other knows no weight limits.”

Thea raised her right eyebrow. “So, basically, you've decided to just get fat together. And you're both okay with that. Is that right?”

Isabel smiled and shrugged. “Why not? It not like gaining weight will hurt us since the particle accelarator explosion. And believe it or not, Thea, my love for your father has never been just physical. I would love Robert if he were 1,000 pounds. And I know he feels the same way about me. So why shouldn't we both eat without a care?”

Thea sighed. “You got me there. If.... Thea pointed her right index finger at Isabel. “If what you're saying is true, you and my father must love each other a whole lot. I still don't like you, but...if you and my dad really care about each other that much, despite everything...I'm glad you're in my father's life now. Because that kind of unconditional love is really rare. Hell, I kind of wish Roy felt that way about me so I wouldn't have to count calories every time I eat or drink something...”

Isabel smiled and whispered. “Well, how do you know Roy doesn't love you that much? Have you ever asked him? Has he ever made any indication that he hates fat people?”

Thea shrugged. “No on both counts, but nobody likes a fat girl, right? Except maybe my dad, obviously, and that's only because he, apparently, lo...cares so much about you.”

Isabel nodded.” And I love him too . But trust me, Thea. A lot more guys are chubby chasers than you might think, and unless you ask Roy if he'd be okay with you gaining weight, you’ll never know if he's one of them. What do you have to lose by just asking?”

Thea shook her head. “I...don't really feel comfortable having this conversation with you. What I want to know is how you and my father are going to justify your size to the press when you're running a charity for so many starving people?”

Isabel smirked. “Robert and I already thought of that. He and I are investing heavily in advances in agricultural and ranching technology, which should make food much cheaper and more abundant within ten years. So your father and I will just say that we're trying to make a world where everyone can eat as much as we do, if they want.”

Before Thea could respond to that statement, Oliver and Robert reentered the cafe. After a few minutes of polite small talk, then Robert hugging his children goodbye, and Isabel politely shaking Oliver and Thea's hands, it was time for everyone to go their separate ways for a bit. As soon as Robert and Isabel were in the limo, Robert turned to Isabel with a smile. “So...I have something important to ask you, and you have something important to tell me. So who goes first?”

Isabel gulped. “How about you go first?”

Robert nodded. “Ok, I will. So...many years ago, just before you and I tried to run away together the first time...I bought a little something for you. An item I was going to give you as soon as my divorce with Moira went through. But...even after I prematurely ended our relationship the first time, I kept and hid it. The item, that is. Last night, I asked Oliver to retrieve it for me, from it's hiding spot under a false bottom under one of the drawers in my old office. And I'm sorry, Isabel, but I should have done this years ago...”

Robert smiled, seeing that he had timed things just right, so that the limo had just come to a complete stop at a park that Isabel and him would often frequent under cover of darkness, during their affair, and were now visiting at sunset. “Come with me...” After Robert lead Isabel to her favorite spot in the park, a bench that gave it's occupants a perfect view of the ocean, and Isabel sat down, Robert got down on one knee and pulled out a white-gold ring, which was engraved with Russian characters, and which had a large princess-cut diamond mounted on it. Isabel gasped and shed several tears as Robert said. “I know that, on paper, our aliases, John and Summer Smith are already married. But I...I wanted to make things official with you, Isabel. There's a priest in this city who owes me a favor, who I know would be willing to marry us in a small ceremony that I would like to invite Oliver and Thea to. But I should stop rambling now, and just ask you, Isabel Rochev, will you marry me?”

Isabel pulled Robert into a deep kiss. When the kiss was over, Isabel was still crying happy tears as she nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes! I would love to marry you, Robert Queen! I love you so much! Besides...”

Isabel smirked knowingly as Robert placed the ring on Isabel's finger. “I think us being married will make things easier for our baby!”

Robert gasped. “You're pregnant?! But...how? I know you haven't left my side over the past few months, but I've been sterile for years, unless...the Lazarus Pitt did something to change that.”

Isabel smirked. “Well, the Pitt did eventually make you young again, so It's not much of a stretch now, is it? Besides, I knew there had to be a reason you had more stamina in the bedroom than you used to, even when you were really sick. All I know is that I haven't been with anyone else since you came back into my life, Robert. But somehow, in between you coming back to Starling after six years away, and this morning, when the test I took in the middle of the night came back positive, I got pregnant! I swear on all the love I have in my heart for you, the baby is yours, Robert!”

Robert grinned. “And I suppose this is what you wanted to tell me?” Isabel nodded, and Robert's smile widened as he said. “Now that is another great reason to celebrate, Isabel! I'm so happy that I'm going to be a father again!”

After Robert and Isabel spent another few minutes making out and talking about their plans for the future, the unconventional couple got back into the limo. Isabel and Robert held each other close as the limo took off again, and the brunette was all smiles as she turned to her fiancée/ husband. “So, are we really going to a buffet after you just proposed to me, or was that just a lie to throw me off?”

Robert shrugged. “That's up to you. We can dine anywhere in the city you like. But I really was planning to take you this place called Fazzini's, which is a little known buffet a dozen miles north of Starling, which only has five star cuisine. As such, the place is quite expensive, but my wife, and the future mother of one of my children, is worth it!”

Isabel smiled and patted her belly. “Well, I am quite famished. And I'm eating for two now, so why not?! Fazzini's it is!”

The next few minutes passed by in silence, but Robert couldn't help but notice that his lover was slowly coming down from cloud nine, as her smile slowly morphed into a frown as she faced away from him and cast her eyes downward. “Isabel, what's wrong? Did you want to go to another restraunt for this occasion, or...”

Isabel shook her head. “It's not that. Fazzini's sounds like a great place. It's just...”Isabel sighed as she turned to Robert. “ Now that I'm going to be your wife, I want you to promise me something. I want you to promise me that you will never leave me, or stop loving me, and that you will come home at least before midnight every night, so we can fall asleep in each other's arms. I want you to promise me you’ll kiss me and tell me you love me at least once a day, and that you will save me enough of your love for us to have sex at least once a week.”

Robert nodded. “Of course I will do those things for you, Isabel. But that seems like sort of a low bar for your husband.”

Isabel shrugged. “I have no right to ask for more. Given the way our relationship started, it would be hypocritical of me to demand fidelity from you. And I know, despite your promises to the contrary, you aren't built to be a one-woman man, anyway. That's okay. Some men just aren't cut out for monogamy, and you just happen to be one of those men. I knew that from the beginning of our affair. I only wanted us to run away together because I didn't like seeing you as unhappy as you were when you were with Moira. All I'm saying is, sometimes it's necessary to share the one you love, and I can live with that as long as you never leave me, and you always keep just a little room in your heart for loving me! If you can do that…” Isabel sighed. “ Then you have my permission to sleep with whoever you want in private. I just don't want to know about it, or for you to leave me, or stop loving me. But I do want you to be happy, and I don't want you to have to suppress your desires, so…” Isabel sighed heavily and looked away from Robert, letting the Queen patriarch know that Isabel wasn't happy with the idea of Robert sleeping with other people, but she was willing to make that concession for his happiness.

Robert sighed and shook his head. “Isabel, I truly believe my marriage to Moira was...an ill-advised one, but I did at least get two wonderful children out of it, who I wouldn't trade for anything. And I meant it when I said before that I regret all those times that I cheated on my ex-wife before I met you, especially since doing so hurt Moira on several occasions. If I didn't love you so much, and if I weren't so sure you were the one I'm supposed to be with for the rest of my life, I would regret our affair too. My point is...my past indiscretions are not something I’m proud of, nor do I wish to repeat that behavior in the future. Especially now that I'm finally getting married to the right woman, to my soulmate.”

Isabel smiled at Robert as the man continued speaking. “So when I go that altar, and promise to forsake all others...this time, I'm really going to mean it, and I swear on my life that I will never, ever cheat on you, abuse you, or neglect you in anyway. I'm not going to make the same mistakes in my second marriage as I did in my first. From now on, you, and all my children, including the little one growing inside you right now, are going to come first!”

Isabel cried happy tears again as she passionately kissed Robert for several minutes, then, just before the limo arrived at Fazzini's, Isabel pulled away, wiped her tears away and said. “Thank you. I know you meant what you just said, and I want you to know that's more than I ever dared to hope for from you. Thank you so much for loving me! I know you weill be a great husband, and father to our child! And I promise you I will do everything I can to be a great wife and mom, so that you will never, ever regret asking me to marry you!”

Robert nodded and smiled. “ Don't worry, marrying you is a decision I know I will never regret, Isabel! After all, this time, I'm marrying someone I'm in love with, and because I want to, not because I feel I have to. And I know you will be an excellent wife and mother. But right now I do believe we've arrived at our destination, so let's fill our bellies with some of the best cuisine on Earth, then come back to our apartment to satisfy a different appetite!”

Isabel quickly agreed to this plan, and the brunette and her lover entered Fazzini's after the limo came to a complete stop. After entering the huge restaurant, which had many golden sculptures and fine paintings scattered throughout the interior, and being escorted to their table by a waiter and ordering the five star restaruant/buffet's best glass of wine (for Robert) and two glasses of water, Robert and Isabel started helping themselves to some of the large restaurant's exquisite food. The couple were overwhelmed by all of the food choices at first, which featured cuisine from all over the world, including Mediterranean dishes, Eastern European fare, Asian foods, and American foods, like burgers. However, Isabel and Robert quickly settled on lobster, steak, and loaded baked potatoes for their first plates. Fortunately, although the fattening food was even more delicious than that of the restaurant they had visited their first night back in Starling, Robert and Isabel were still quite hungry after eating their first plates, and quickly got up for seconds....and thirds...and so on. All in all, by the time they were done eating, Robert and Isabel had each consumed seven large plates of food, chomping their way through chilled fruit and steamed vegetables (which the couple gleefully drenched in butter), burgers and fries, pizza, pasta, rice (both steamed and fried) chicken, duck, several dishes that neither Robert nor Isabel knew how to pronounce (but which were still delicious), and various cookies, scoops of ice cream, and slices of various types of cakes (including the cheese variety), pies and cobblers. By the end of the evening, Robert and Isabel were almost unbearably full, hiccupping from the aftermath of their large meal, and trying (unsuccessfully) to keep gas coming out of their chubby asses.

POOT!

Isabel laughed as Robert farted for the third time that evening, as both he and Isabel had been doing throughout their meal, and the brunette leaned as far forward as her ponderous belly, which kept running against the table, would allow her to as she whispered. “Better out than in, right? I won't worry about our gas if you won't. After all...” Isabel nodded to a morbidly obese family of five at a nearby table, whose fancy clothes (almost as nice as the purple dress and charcoal suite that the off-beat couple were wearing tonight) indicated they were well off. In addition to being fat, the rich, obese family had been letting out intermittent belches and farts throughout the meal....and none of the other patrons, many of whom were fat themselves, paid the family any mind “This seems to be the kind of place were people can indulge in food without worrying about social niceties.”

Robert chuckled, then purposely burped loudly. After no one else in the restaurant said anything for several seconds, Robert chuckled. “I guess you're right! I suppose we don't have to worry about passing gas here.”

Isabel smiled and let out a smaller, ladylike belch of her own, but the smile soon ran away from her face as she looked at the nearby obese family again. Specifically, she was looking at the two fat teenage boys, and their younger, grade school aged, chubby sister, when the brunette whispered . “Would you be upset, if our family turned out like theirs?”

Robert sighed. “I wouldn't be upset, but...I don't think it's a good idea for you and me to try to have more kids after the one you're carrying now, since I already have two of my own...”

Isabel shook her head. “That's...not what I meant. I think it's wise for us to only have the one child as well, for the reasons you stated. No, I meant...would you be mad, if our child turned out to be fat, like we are planning to become? Because I've read some articles which say a person's lifetime set weight is often largely determined by their mother's weight at pregnancy and...I just don't want you to be disappointed if our child turns out to be fat.”

Robert smiled and shook his head as he whispered back.” I would love any of my children, including the one still growing in your belly, no matter their size. My life has shown me that it is a person's heart, their capacity for love, that defines them. Not how they look. And if our child has the same capacity for love as you do, I'm sure he or she will be a marvelous human being, whether they turn out to be fat or thin!”

Isabel half-smiled, half-smirked as she said. 'That's good, because at this rate, by the time this baby is born, his momma's going to be fat!”

A fire blazed behind Robert's eyes as he said. “Time to pay the check!”

Shortly thereafter, Isabel and Robert were shamelessly making out in the back of the limo. The couple's osculation quickly went from tame to wild as their tongues went into each other's mouths within five seconds of their lips meeting. Things were about to get even more wild when Robert put his hands around the bosom of Isabel's dress to take the garment off, and Isabel was about to do the same to Robert's belt, when the limo suddenly came to a stop in front of their hotel, and the couple quickly made themselves look presentable as possible.

Judging from the smirk on the driver's face, however, the chauffeur knew exactly what the couple had been up to. The driver smiled while opening the door and said. “This your stop, Mr. and Mrs. Smith!”

Once the couple reached their hotel room and put up the “Do Not Disturb” sign up, however, Robert and Isabel once again lost all their inhibitions, and they quickly took each other's clothes off and initiated a lovemaking session, which involved lots of belly rubs, kisses to flabby thighs, breasts, asses, and bellies, and more than a little bit of gas (from both ends), that lasted for several hours. Once the night's festivities were over, however, the two lovers rested in each others arms and looked into each others eyes for several minutes, not saying a word. However, after a time Isabel smiled and said.” I love you, Robert. And you know what? I think we're going to enjoy having a fat family!”

Robert smiled and nodded. “I love you too. And I second that emotion.”

The man soon drew Isabel into a deep kiss, which turned into another lengthy make-out session. Soon enough, Isabel could see and feel Robert's stiff dick poking her thigh and laughed as she positioned her body to allow her lover easy access to her womanhood. “Round two already? Robert, you are insatiable!”

The next few days passed quickly for Robert and Isabel, as the couple tried to take in as many of the sights of Starling as possible before their departure back to New York, such as several visits to museums, art exibits, and even a baseball game (a sport Isabel wasn't really into, but she was happy that Robert enjoyed it so much, even as she chowed down on hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, ice cream, and many other treats while pretending to watch the game). Finally, however, the last day of the couple's stay in Starling came around...along with the day of Robert and Isabel's wedding.

The ceremony was a small, quiet affair. At Isabel's insistence, the wedding took place in a small building which had once been a school, but now functioned as a place of worship for many different faiths. The priest who conducted the ceremony, Father Dwight Mailey, was an old friend of Robert Queen, and he was pleasant enough, but rather unremarkable in both appearance and mannerisms. However, neither Isabel and Robert cared about the humbleness of the venue or man who presided over the ceremony.

However, Robert and Isabel (by virtue of the fact that it made Robert happy) were glad that both Oliver and Thea had accepted the invitation to their father's wedding on such short notice, even though their significant others had other plans, so Sara and Roy couldn't attend. But the newly engaged couple were also secretly relieved that Moira and Walter had respectfully declined Robert's token invitation to the wedding. A sentiment that Isabel was thinking about while Thea reluctantly helped Isabel into her plus-sized dress just before the ceremony. “Thanks for agreeing to be my bridesmaid, Thea. And for forcing Robert and I not to see each other before the ceremony. The anticipation just makes this day seem a lot more real, you know? Seriously, I don't really have any friends in Starling anymore, and it means a lot to me that you are helping me out.”

Thea rolled her eyes as she helped Isabel into her wedding dress. “Please, I'm doing this for my father, not for you. I don't even like you, Isabel. And after the things you did to my family, I never will. But my father set his heart on you for some reason, so I guess it's my duty as his daughter to support his decision to get married again...and to make sure that his marriage to you starts off with a proper ceremony.”

Isabel smiled and nodded at Thea. “Far enough. Like I told you the other day, I don't blame you for hating me, Thea. You have every reason to, after all. But I'm still really glad you decided to attend this wedding and support your father. Believe it or not, your father still thinks the world of both you and Oliver. He talks about you two all the time. And he was so happy when Oliver told him over the phone that you would be here! You two being here means a lot to him...and to me. Thank you for being here today, even if it's just on your father's behalf.”

Thea didn't know how to answer that, so she just nodded as she started helping Isabel style her hair for the ceremony. It didn't take long for Isabel to start talking again, however. “I'm sort of glad that your mother and Walter decided not to come, though. I mean, I think it was a nice gesture on your father's part to show his ex-wife and his old friend there are no hard feelings between them and us, but I'm a bit afraid of what might have happened if your mother had decided to attend. Moira hates me even more than you and Oliver do, after all.”

Thea snorted. “Gee, I wonder why?”

Isabel sighed. “I didn't mean it like that. I just...I know your mother has every right to hate me. I understand that. And I am sorry for how things happened between her, Robert, and myself back then.”

Thea looked at Isabel's eyes through the reflection she was using to style the slightly older woman's hair. “Really? You're sorry that you and my father had an affair? That seems kind of hypocritical, considering you're about to marry him, don't you think?”

Isabel shook her head. “Look, Thea, it's...complicated. I am very, sincerely sorry for my dealings with Slade. And for trying to take the Verdant and QC away from you and Oliver. I'm also sorry for all the other ways I hurt you and your family. Hell, I'm even sorry that your father and I had to have an affair in order to be together in the beginning of our relationship, and that we hurt your mother in the process. So if you wanted an apology from me, there it is. But I refuse to apologize for my time with Robert back then, or for marrying your father, the man I love with all my heart, now. Because I'm not sorry for having him. I can't apologize for being with your father because most of the years of my life, before I met Robert, and the time between when he and I…parted ways and when your father and I recently got back together, have been absolute hell! Your father has been the only light in my life. The one, bright spot of happiness that has made my life worth living! Besides, and I know you love your mother, and this is hard for you to hear, but by the time my…relationship with your father started, your father was deeply lonely and unhappy being married to Moira. Robert told me that when he first asked me to have a romantic relationship with him, and that he should have divorced Moira years ago, because that relationship was so filled with conflict, and infidelity, on both sides. But he was afraid of losing you, Thea, if he divorced your mother. So I decided to be with your father, even though I knew he was married to your mother at the time, so that I could make him happy Because Robert Queen's happiness was, is, and always be, more important to me than always doing the right thing. Also, I…I can't explain it, Thea, but there was a magnetism…a pull, between your father and I, that both of us were powerless to fight. Your father and I got together, because, among other reasons… our love for each other was too strong to resist.”

Thea scoffed at that last statement, causing Isabel to shrug. “ Believe me, don't believe me. It doesn't matter. And you can think I'm a selfish bitch if you want to Thea, but I refuse to regret any of the shining moments of happiness that your father and I have had together, no matter how ill-gotten some of them may have been! I love your father, and he loves me! Robert and I are soulmates, and I make your father happy! I hope someday, Thea, you can find it in your heart to accept that. If not for me, or even your father, than for our baby!”

Thea's jaw dropped slightly as Isabel dried her tears and reapplied her mascara. Finally, after several seconds, Thea was able to bring herself to speak. “You and my father are having a baby?! But how? I thought my dad couldn't have children anymore!'

Isabel shrugged. “We don't know how it's possible, either. We weren't even going to tell you and Oliver about the baby until a few weeks after the wedding, but....Robert and I think his improved virility may be an after-effect of his resurrection with the Lazarus Pitt. Perhaps part of the same effect that made your father young again. I don't know, and I don't care! All I know is, I am going to be the best mother to my and Robert's miracle baby as I can! And your father and I agreed that we want your little brother...I don't know why, but I already feel like it's going to be a boy, to spend as much time with you and Oliver as possible while he grows up! We think it would be good for our baby's development to have a good relationship with his older siblings, and that would be a lot easier if you and I could at least be civil around each other, don't you agree?”

Thea sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. For the sake of my little brother or sister in all but blood, I guess we can call a truce.”

Isabel smiled, stood up and turned around after Thea finished with Isabel's hair and make-up, and, much to Thea's surprise, pulled Thea into a large hug. “Thank you, Thea! That will mean so much to Robert, this baby...” Isabel quickly rubbed her growing pot-belly. “And me!” 

Thea's eyes were wide as saucers and her posture was as stiff as a board by the time Isabel pulled away from her, and Isabel couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Thea's face before she said. “Sorry, I guess I got carried away there! But seriously, Thea, it means a lot to me that you are willing to put aside your differences with me for your little brother or sister's sake! And even though I've done a lot of bad things to you and your family, for reasons that I now realize were absolutely insane, I do hope that one day, you and Oliver will learn not to hate me. I know the three of us will never be friends, but I hope that someday, you and your older brother can find it your hearts to consider your younger sibling as part of your family.”

Thea just shook her head at the hopeful expression on Isabel's face, and the glint of true sorrow in her eyes, that showed that Robert's fiancée was genuinely sorry for hurting the Queen family. “Well...let's just get through this ceremony, and see where things go from there.”

Isabel sighed. “Yes. Of course. I understand if that's all you can give me.”

Thea shook her head. “Okay, what happened to “Ice Queen Rochev'? Why did you have to turn so nice and apologetic all of the sudden? I'm supposed to hate you for all the things you've done to my family, but you're making that kind of hard to do right now.”

Isabel smiled. “What can I say? It's a lot easier to be nice, and grateful, and all those other things that some people take for granted, when you're happy. Your father is going to live, and I'm about to marry the man I love with all my heart, than have his baby! How can I possibly be angry or mean at a time like this?!”

Thea grimaced. “This isn't just an act, is it? You really do love my father?”

Isabel nodded. “With all my heart. I promise you, Thea, I will do everything in my power to be a good wife to Robert, and a good mother to your sibling. Like I said, I love Robert Queen, and he loves me. And I really do believe that I can make your father happy for the rest of his life!”

Thea half-smiled. “You’d better. And I... for my father's sake, I hope you and my dad have a great, marriage, and that you and him are great parents to my little brother or sister! For my family's sake, I wish you three all the happiness in the world.”

Isabel smiled. “Thank you, Thea! And I hope you and Roy are happy in your relationship as well.”

Thea smiled nervously. “He and I are...doing rather well lately. Anyway, we’d better get you out there to marry your groom!”

The ceremony itself wasn't all that eventful, as Isabel and Robert exchanged the usual set of vows at a wedding...apart from the part where both the bride and groom promised to “forsake all others” three times, instead of just once, and both of them promised to love and care for each other “forever”, instead of just “until death do us part”. However, despite the rather standard wedding ceremony, during which the bride and groom had to practically waddle down the aisle because of all the food they had both consumed at a buffet before getting ready for the ceremony, the two witnesses to the event couldn't help but notice how happy the bride and groom both looked, or that the two of them couldn't keep their eyes off of each other during the entire ceremony. And Oliver and Thea couldn't have failed to notice how the newly married chubby couple unashamedly held each other close as they shared a deep kiss that lasted a few seconds too long at the end of the ceremony.

Immediately after the ceremony, Robert and Isabel Queen, aka “John and Summer Smith” had to change into different clothes for the flight back to NYC, but they made sure to say there farewells to Oliver and Thea before they were driven back to the airport. Robert hugged both of his children. The father then smiled and said. “Oliver, Thea, I know you had some reservations about me marrying Isabel, but it means so much to me...”

“To both of us.” Isabel quickly added with a smile.

Robert smiled. “Yes. To both me and Isabel, that all of my children could be here today to support our union. Also, Isabel told me that she already told you this, Thea. Oliver, Isabel and I are going to have a baby, and I would really like for him or her to be able to see their older siblings as he or she is growing up. So, if it's alright with you two, the three of us...”Robert effectionately patted Isabel's large potbelly. “Would like to visit you and your sister at least three or four times a year after your baby brother or sister is born.”

Oliver looked a little floored at the revelation that his dad and Isabel were going to be having a child together but he quickly recovered and nodded. “Of course. Thea and I wouldn't want to miss out on being there for our little brother or sister. And dad...I wish you and Isabel all the luck in the world in both your marriage...and in being parents together.”

Thea nodded and reluctantly added. “Yeah, me too. Good luck and congratulations.”

“Thank you!” Robert and Isabel spoke simultaneously, then laughed, causing Oliver and Thea to glance at each other, before Robert added. “I love you both very much! And Isabel, our child, and I look forward to seeing you two again very soon.”

Oliver and Thea both hugged their father again and said, “We love you too, dad!” Then Isabel awkwardly hugged Thea, then shook Oliver's hand before the newly married couple departed in their limo. Afterwards, as Thea and Oliver were walking back to the latter's car, Thea sighed. “Dad and Isabel look really happy together.”

Oliver nodded. “Yeah. As much at it pains me to say this...I hope they work out. You know, for the baby's sake.”

Thea nodded back in agreement. “Yeah...and for dad's. I really don't like some of the decisions dad has made over the years but...he was always a good father to both of us growing up. And that means a whole lot considering that, in my case, he didn't have to be. Dad's suffered enough for his mistakes, and now...I just want him to be happy. Even if the means him and Isabel being happily married for the rest of their lives. And apparently... both of them getting really fat.”

Oliver rolled his eyes as he and Thea got in his car and buckled themselves in. “Not this again. I told you, it doesn't matter if...”

“Our dad and Isabel get fat. I agree. In fact, I hope you don't mind, but I told Roy what's been going on between our dad and Isabel lately. I know it's family business, but I love Roy, and I didn't feel right keeping something like that a secret, and...”

Oliver shrugged as he started his car. “That's okay, I told Sara about dad and Isabel too. I just...needed to talk to someone to wrap my head around their relationship, you know? Anyway, what did Roy think about what you told him?”

Thea shrugged. “Will, he still hates Isabel's guts for capturing him and letting Slade play mad scientist with his body...but I was able to make him promise he wouldn't go after Miss Rochev...Mrs. Queen...Mrs. Smith...whatever she wants to call herself these days, for revenge.”

Oliver sighed in relief as he pulled out of the parking space in front of the inter-faith worship center. “Well, that's good news. I'm guessing you and he won't be visiting Isabel and dad in New York anytime soon, though?”

Thea shrugged. “I wouldn't say that. Roy loves me a lot. A whole hell of a lot more than I thought, as I recently found out. So I can probably convince him to come with me to New York to meet my dad, and at least moderately behave himself around Isabel….if Isabel apologizes for what she did to him. But I would appreciate it if you and Sara could come with us when we visit dad, to help me keep my boyfriend in line.”

Oliver chuckled as he drove his car toward the highway. “I think I can arrange that. My schedule as CEO is pretty busy, but I could arrange some vacation time a month or two from now so we can visit dad.”

Thea smiled at her brother. “I really appreciate that, Oliver.”

After a few seconds had passed, and the car was safety on the highway, Thea added. “Funny thing, though. When I told Roy that dad and Isabel were gaining a lot of weight, he said that it was normal for people to gain weight in a relationship, and that the size of a person's body didn't matter that much, anyway.”

Oliver nodded. “Roy's got a pretty good head on his shoulders. That's why I'm glad he's the Arrow's partner...and your boyfriend. Don't ever tell him I told you that last part, though.”

Thea chuckled. “And ruin your scary, disapproving big brother image? No way! But you’re right though, Roy's a good guy. A really, really, open-minded, good guy. You know...after he said that, about size not mattering, I actually asked Roy, you know, as a joke...”

Thea laughed nervously. “If he'd still feel that way if I porked out and became a fat ass. And he actually said, and I'm quoting him here. 'As long as you were still the same person on the inside, and kept showing me you love me, It wouldn't bother me if you became the fattest woman on Earth!”

Oliver's eyes widened. “Wow!”

Thea nodded. “My thoughts exactly! So, of course, I completely ruin the moment by freaking out about it, and when I asked Roy how he could possible say something like that, he just shrugged and said that he'd dated both thin and fat girls before. When I asked him how fat, he said that he'd dated a girl in high school who was five feet tall and weighed over three hundred and fifty pounds, and that he'd actually found girls a lot bigger than that attractive!”

Oliver sighed. “You know, Thea, this is a lot more information about my crime-fighting partners sexual preferences than I ever wanted to know, so...”

But Thea wouldn't let her brother finish that though. “Oliver, please, let me finish. Because there's something I want to ask you after I'm done telling you this. Anyway, at that point in my conversation with Roy, I actually asked him if he even found me attractive at my current size, or if he wanted me to gain weight. And he said of course he was happy with me just the way I am...”

Oliver half-smiled. “That's good. You deserve someone who loves you just the way you are.”

Thea nodded. “Yeah. But then Roy said that If I ever wanted to gain a few pounds, or a few hundred, or however much I wanted, that he would be, and I'm quoting him again here, “More than okay with that!”

Oliver grimaced. “So you're wondering if you should dump Roy because he might like you even more if you were fat, even if he loves you the way you are now? Only you can answer that, Thea. But if you do stay with Roy, don't let him manipulate you into changing your body for him...”

Thea shook her head. “No. That's not what I wanted to ask you. Roy's been really sweet about the whole weight issue. He specifically said that I'm perfect the way I am, and that I should't change a thing about myself if I don't want to...but that I wouldn't be any less perfect if I did gain a little, or a lot, of weight.”

Oliver smiled, then shrugged. “It sounds like Roy really loves you, regardless of your weight. That's a good thing. So what's the problem, exactly?”

Thea sighed. “There's no problem. I just wanted to ask you something, but I didn't want to freak you out so I'm trying to say this right. But... and I promise I have a point in bringing this up, but do you remember when I was little, and I would keep sneaking cookies, crackers, and other stuff out of the pantry, and I would beg Raisa to make me extra snacks between meals?”

Oliver laughed. “Yeah, and I remember it made mom furious! She was so careful with managing our diets back then, and when she found out that you were eating more than you were supposed to, she forbade Raisa from giving you any more snacks between meals, and started putting all the cookies and sweets on a high shelf in the pantry so you couldn't reach them.”

Thea shook her head in confusion. “I don't remember that happening. I mean, I remember mom giving me lectures that I had to stop eating so much, or I'd get fat, but Raisa kept giving me food, and as far as I can recall, the snacks stayed on the bottom shelf, where I could easily reach them when I wanted to.”

Oliver smiled. “Yeah, I forgot we didn't tell you this. That's because you were the baby of the family, and dad, Raisa, and me spoiled you rotten by giving you whatever you wanted. Raisa never could resist your puppy dog eyes when you asked for a snack, even when she knew giving in could get her fired. It almost did get her fired once, actually, until dad lied to protect the best helper our family has ever had, and said that he'd been the one to tell Raisa it was okay to give you snacks again.”

Thea shook her head and sighed. “I'm guessing mom and dad had a pretty good fight after that? I can't believe I never heard them.”

Oliver shrugged. “You were sleeping over at a friend's house at the time. Yeah, our parents argued pretty loudly that night. But nobody wanted to tell you about that argument the next day. We didn't want you to feel bad, because it wasn't your fault Raisa feed you more than she was supposed to. Especially when dad and I were just as guilty. We were the ones that kept putting the non-perishable snacks back on the bottom shelf of the cupboard, where we knew you could reach them. We knew we shouldn't have, but...”

Oliver smiled and shrugged. “Like I said, you were the baby of the family, and we wanted to give you whatever you wanted so you would be happy. And it was obvious you really enjoyed eating back then, so...”

Thea chuckled. “So it's yours and dad's fault that mom had to send me to fat camp to lose all that weight when I was just eight years old!?”

Oliver nodded. “And Raisa’s, yeah. Sorry”

Thea snickered. “Don't be. even though the three of you helped turn me into a real butterball of a little girl, I'm the one that chose to eat all that food in the first place, Besides, I did really enjoy eating back then....I still do, actually, even though I don't eat nearly as much as I would like to these days, for fear that I'll grow fat again. Especially since me and exercise have always been like oil and water. But lately, I've been thinking. I now know Roy wouldn't care if I got fat again. And from the looks of him lately, dad wouldn't mind either. And honestly, I don't care about mom's opinion of my weight nearly as much as I used to, now that I'm an adult and all. But I do still wonder...If were to, you know, gain a lot of weight, not on purpose or anything, just, kind of letting myself eat whatever I want, like I did when I was little, and I got fat again...would that make you ashamed of me?”

Oliver smiled and shook his head, then, after stopping at a traffic light near the Verdant, the man laid a reassuring hand on his sister's shoulder. “Thea, you are my sister, and I could never be ashamed of you. Your weight doesn't even enter into the equation, especially since the particle accelerator explosion. I mean, even when you were...how did dad used to put it? Pleasantly plump. Even when you were a pleasantly plump little girl, I still loved you, because you're my sister, and you always will be. It's okay for you to be skinny. And it's okay to be fat. Whatever you want is okay.”

Thea smiled. “Thank you, Oliver. That's exactly what I needed to hear. My eleven year long diet ends today!”

Oliver nodded. “If that's what makes you happy, than good. Just do me a favor. Don't let your new eating habits rub off on Roy. I need him in fighting shape when he's Red Arrow!”

Thea smiled and shook her head. “Oh, I don't think that will be a problem!”

Eighteen months later....

A 270 pound brunette pointed to a building that contained a famous indoor rollercoaster with one arm, even as she gently held her and Robert's baby with the other..”Oh! What about this ride?! Can we go on this one next?”

Robert chuckled then whispered. “Sure, Isabel! I don't see why not!” Then in a louder voice, the 300 pound man looked and Oliver and Thea and spoke, an action which caused both of his chins to quiver a little What do you two think? Is Space Mountain okay with you two?”

Oliver smiled as he held Sara's hand in his own hand. “Works for me, what do you think, Sara? William?”

Sara shrugged. “Why not? I've never been to Disneyland before, so I'll try any ride someone suggests...within reason.”

William, who Samantha had finally allowed Oliver to have custody of over a long weekend so he could meet his grandfather and aunt (after a long, complicated discussion between Oliver and the mother of his child, during which the blonde man had promised not to allow William's grandmother anywhere near the boy), shrugged and said, “Space mountain sounds fine with me. My mom brought me here once, and it's one of the best rides in Disneyland!”

Robert Queen smiled at his chubby, twelve year old grandson. “I'm glad your mother has allowed you some opportunities to have fun in your life, William! I hope you're having a good day so far!” 

William half-smiled. “Sure. It's been fun so far...Grandad.”

Robert smiled. “Please, you calling me granddad makes me feel old! Call me Robert! And you can call my youngest child Robbie.”

William nodded. “Ok, sure.”

Thea smiled, showing of her chubby cheeks and double chin as the 200 pound woman spoke. “Cool. Anyway, my vote it that I'm fine with Space Mountain, but you, and sometimes mom, took Oliver and me to Disneyland six times as a kid, and Roy and Sara have never been before, so I think they should pick what ride we go on next. All I know though, is that I'm starving! Can we get some ice cream before we go on another ride?!”

Robert and Isabel nodded enthusiastically at that idea, and Robert added. “Yes, some ice cream would be delightful right now.”

Roy smiled. “Space mountain sound good to me, but I'll pass on the ice cream. We just had a big lunch an hour ago, and I doubt you want a fat fiancée, Thea. Your dad and stepmom have already been a bad enough influence on my eating habits the last two times we saw them in Starling, and that one time me, you, Oliver and Sara all visited your dad and Isabel in New York. And that's not even including your influence on my eating habits. “Roy patted the small potbelly he had grown over the past few months self consciously.

Thea rolled her eyes at her boyfriend even as she smiled down at the three month old, princess cut engagement ring on her left hand. “Roy, you can't blame others for your eating habits, and you can't be on a diet on vacation! That's so lame! I don't want to be the only person in this couple making a pig of themselves! Besides, I already told you last week that I wouldn't mind you being my chubby hubby...” Thea effectionately squeezed one of Roy's love handles, causing the man to groan in embarrassment before Thea whispered in his ear. “Especially since you and my brother were forced to retire from crime fighting after Damian Darhk injured you and Ollie months ago, just before you two killed him and stopped him from destroying the world.”

Thea then grinned mischievously and spoke loudly to embarrass her fiancée as she patted his belly. “You can get as big and manly as you want, Roy. Although I doubt you’ll ever be bigger than me!

Roy laughed nervously at that for a few seconds, before the sound of a baby crying interrupted the awkward moment. Isabel shook her head and rocked her baby gently in her arms as she said. “Aw, I know that cry. Little Robbie is hungry! I better go ahead and feed him now. You all go and get ice cream while I’m doing that, please. And for the record, I've never been to any amusement park, and I would really like to go on Space Mountain once before my ass gets too fat to fit in one of the seats!”

Even as Isabel was saying this, the woman was simultaneously sitting down on a nearby bench, and sliding down the right side of her Mickey Mouse t-shirt and bra in order to expose her nipple to her fifty pound, nine month old baby. After Isabel did this, William, as well as Oliver and Thea, and their significant others, all politely looked away, but Robert took a moment to admire the sight of his fat, beautiful wife breastfeeding his youngest child. Everything about the sight, from his wife's hazel eyes and brunette hair, to her plump cheeks and double chin, to her large, round belly, plump limbs, fat ass that was big enough for the woman's husband to see the sides of her volleyball sized cheeks from the front, chunky hips and thighs, and of course, Isabel's large, DD breasts, one of which was exposed as the perfect, fat baby in the large woman's flabby, jiggly arms (which had long ago lost the muscle definition they had gained from training under Slade Wilson) suckled her right nipple, seemed beautiful and natural to Robert Queen. The Queen patriarch had never been more proud of the life that he had created with his wife than that very moment, as the large blonde-haired, hazel eyed bundle of joy in Isabel's arms sucked milk from one of his mother's mammary glands.

After Isabel looked up towards her husband and smiled lovingly, Robert realized that he'd been staring at his wife breastfeeding his youngest child for at least thirty seconds. The Queen patriarch quickly turned his head away from his wife, and towards his older children, cleared his throat, then said. “Let's go get some ice cream, shall we?”

Shortly after Robert bought eight Mickey Mouse shaped ice cream treats on a stick, (“We'll get one extra, just in case!”), Isabel and Robert Junior rejoined the group, and Isabel quickly grabbed one of the ice creams, then slowly savored her treat as the rest of the group (including a self-conscious Oliver, who wouldn't eat a bite until Sara patted his starter pot belly under the table everyone was sitting at and whispered in her boyfriend's ear. “Enjoy your ice cream. I like having more of you to love anyway!”) also ate their frozen treats. William, who Oliver had been assured by Samantha could “eat whatever he wants” since the particle accelarator explosion, was especially enthusiastic about scarfing down his ice cream in record time. After everyone else had been masticating on their ice cream for only a minute, Robert Queen Jr. (which had been officially christened Robert Smith when he had been born in New York) started reaching out from his baby seat, trying to grasp the “extra” ice cream treat from his father's hands.

Isabel smiled at this sight and chuckled. “Uh oh. It looks likes our baby is still hungry. Do you want your daddy to give you an ice cream treat, little Robbie?”

Robert Jr. waived his arm excitedly towards the remaining frozen Mickey and exclaimed excitedly. “Aah! Ahh! Ungry!”

The older Robert smiled and gave the spare treat to Isabel mere moments after the mother of his youngest child finished inhaling her ice cream treat, then belched loudly. “UUURP! Excuse me!”' The obese brunette then wiped her plump face with a napkin daintily, took the uneaten frozen Mickey in one hand, and threw away her napkin and used popsicle stick with the other. Isabel then made a few cooing noises as she opened the new treat, then offered one of the chocolate mouse ears to her infant. The new mother and three time father then took turns gently feeding their offspring over the next several minutes, and both would laugh every time little Robert misjudged a bite, causing the infant to make a mess all over his face that Isabel would have to clean off with a napkin while saying something like. “Did little Robbie make a mess? Let mommy clean that up!”

Robert Sr. looked on this moment with pride and a smile, and Roy, William and Sara mostly ignored the feeding display. But Oliver and Thea's eyes were wide as they couldn't take their eyes off the bizarre, but obviously tinder, moment between their little brother, their father, and their stepmother. Finally, after a few seconds, Oliver couldn't contain himself, and he whispered to Thea. “Isabel just fed Robbie, and now she's giving him ice cream?! He's already a big baby. I mean, he was fifteen pounds when he was born, and he's close to fifty now! If she keeps this up, our little brother is going to grow up to be a fat kid!”

Thea glared at Oliver and whispered back. “And what would be so wrong with that?! I was a fat kid, I'm fat now, and I'm doing pretty great, if I do say so myself! Name one good reason why, since the particle accelerator explosion, it's a bad thing that dad, Isabel, and Robbie are a fat, happy family!”

Oliver sighed and nodded, silently conceding that he didn't have a proper answer for the question, and pretty soon, the group left the dining area in silence to go to the Space Mountain ride. From that point onward, the rest of the day was rather uneventful. Despite Robert Sr. purchasing several Fast Pass tickets, much of the next four hours were spent waiting in lines for various rides. When the time actually came to ride on the attractions, Robert, Isabel, and Thea (who insisted on holding her little brother several times throughout the day, despite the large baby's heaviness) took turns holding little Robbie, so that every adult in the group got a chance to ride on the attractions they visited that day.

In addition to going on rides with the others, Isabel had to stop several times over the next four hours to change Robbie's diaper, or, on three different occasions, to breast feed the big baby whenever he got hungry. During one such stop, Isabel had shrugged, then smiled at the others and said something like: “Sorry. Robbie gets hungry a lot. He loves to eat. Just like his mommy and daddy!” Isabel's words were only confirmed during the vacation group's two remaining stops for food that day, for dinner, then, an hour later, for desert. During both of these food stops, Robby would reach out towards any food he saw, and Robert and Isabel ended up feeding their baby soft, but solid foods to sate Robert Jr.'s hunger.

It was during their stop for dessert that the one eventful occurrence of the day happened. When a dark-haired woman dressed in black suddenly walked out of a nearby crowd of people, right in front of Robert Queen, then said something in a foreign language that most of the group didn't understand. Evidentially, however, Sara and Robert Queen knew exactly what was going on, as the latter turned white as a ghost and Sara Lance stood between the old/young fat man and Nyssa al Ghul before she turned to the others and softly whispered. “Stay back! All of you! None of you are in any shape to fight, so let me speak to the Daughter of the demon!”

After only a little over a minute of tense, whispered words, however, Nyssa glared, first at Sara, then at Robert and his plump body, which now sported a large spare tire, a fat ass, love handles, chubby thighs that constantly rubbed together, flabby limbs, chubby cheeks, and a large double chin. The raven haired woman then spoke in a disgusted tone of voice as she looked at Robert Queen. “You dishonor all the League stands for with your lack of discipline or restraint! I will tell my father that despite your unexpected recovery, you have grown fat, gluttonous and lazy, and that you are no longer worthy to be an assassin. I now declare your release from the League of Assassins a permanent, dishonorable one. Congratulations, you are free to live your wasted, pathetic, dishonorable life however you please, you fat swine!”

Nyssa then turned towards Sara, and noticed the very small hint of a belly the blonde woman now sported as the daughter of the Demon's eyes widened. “How could you have fallen into the same gluttonous traps as the rest of these cattle, my beloved?”

Sara glared at her ex. “I've only gained five pounds in the last several months, so lay off! I'll have you know it's not so easy to keep the pounds off when I'm not being a hero or assassin, but I gave up the former after I almost executed an unarmed criminal who posed no further threat in the heat of the moment, and I refuse to be the latter ever again! Besides, despite all that your father told you when he brainwashed you, it's not wrong to live one's life in a way that brings happiness to one’s self and one's loved ones, even if living such a life makes you fat! And just so you know, after me and Spartan, who retired to be with his pregnant, once again wife, Lyla, stopped being in the hero business, Lyla and Argus have begun cooperating with the GCPD to keep people like Slade Wilson, Damien Darkh, or even Danny Brickwell, and that crazy guy, Adrian Chase, who tried and failed to kill Oliver with a gun before being gunned down himself, from harming Starling City again. Vigilantes aren't needed in Starling City anymore. And neither is the League of Assassins. Be that as it may, I did love you once. And despite everything, I still love you...as a friend. So I hope you break free from your father's clutches one day to live a life that brings you happiness.”

Nyssa shed a single tear, then turned away and stalked towards a nearby building before disappearing around the corner. After all the adults let out a breathe off relief they hadn't known they had been holding in, Robert smiled and said. “Well, that was… eventful. Let's try to enjoy the rest of our day now shall we?”

As everyone in the group enjoyed their dessert, Thea whispered to her brother. “That's the second time that Isabel saved dad! If she hadn't encouraged our father to live life in the fat lane, Nyssa would probably be dragging dad back to Nanda Parbat to be an assassin again as we speak!”

Oliver sighed and nodded. “Yeah, probably.”

Thea then turned towards Robert and Isabel, who were currently kissing each other softly at the end of the long table that the Queen family and their loved ones had picked out. As the large couple kissed, they gently hugged Robert Jr. in between their rotund bodies, causing the baby to be gently squeezed between his parent's large, squishy bellies. After this state of affairs caused Robbie to coo in happiness, both of the infant's parents kissed their child on either cheek. Thea sighed at the sight. “Those three look so happy together. Way happier than I remember mom and dad being around us growing up. I know this sound horrible, because I love mom, but...do you think dad and Isabel really are soulmates?”

Oliver sighed and shrugged. “I don't know...maybe. But the two of them, and Robbie, certainly seem happy together.”

Thea smiled. “Yeah, I guess they really do look like a fat, happy family.”

The next two days passed, with more rides, more talking (Robert, in particular loved to ask his grandson questions like “How's your mother doing?” or “What's Central City like?”, but mostly he asked questions about whether or not William was being treated well), and of course, lots of eating. By the end of the long weekend, the group had eaten pizza, hot wings, burgers, hot dogs, pretzels, ice cream, fries, and cheesecake, just to name a few of the many, many items the Queen clan consumed. Furthermore, little Robby, in addition to eating several of the softer food items that William and the adults consumed, was also breast fed at least ten times a day! Everyone was happy, for the most part, during the long weekend, although everyone noticed that Sara didn't seem quite as happy as before after the group's run in with Nyssa.

That changed, however, on the last night of the Queen clan's visit to the Magic Kingdom. About an hour after Samantha had come and picked up a noticeably heavier William while commenting with a sigh towards her chubby son that “It looks like we're going to have to upsize your entire wardrobe...again”, and Oliver had offered to pay for a new wardrobe for his son, the adults had all decided to head to Main Street USA to check out the fireworks show that marked the park's closing.

It was during this display of pyrotechnics, while Isabel was gently rocking Robert Jr and making cooing noises in the baby's ear so the infant wouldn't cry, and the older Robert had one arm wrapped as far around Isabel's sizable middle as possible, Oliver Queen got down on one knee and proposed to Sara Lance. Thea gasped, Roy smiled, and Robert and Isabel Queen grinned as the former playboy got to one knee, pulled out a large diamond ring from his jacket, then said. “Sara, I know that our relationship had a...bumpy beginning, to say the least, and that I haven't always done right by you...or your family. But this...this is something that I know is right. No matter how our relationship started, I know, I've know for a while, that you and I are supposed to be together for the rest of our lives. Because I love you, and I always will. So I hope you can forgive me for taking so long to finally ask you this. Sara Lance, will you marry me?”

Sara Lance cried tears of happiness, and the blonde woman shouted over the fireworks. “Of course I'll marry you, Oliver Queen!”

After Sara Lance put the ring on her left ring finger, she and Oliver drew each other into a deep kiss while Robert, Roy, Thea, and Isabel all cheered for the newly engaged couple. And in that moment, as Oliver was overcome with both his love for Sara, and his certainty that marrying her was the right thing to do, he also felt another emotion he had never expected to feel. For it was only then that Oliver understood how a relationship with a less than noble start could still end with the right people loving each other forever. That's why, several seconds after Sara and Oliver pulled away from their kiss, and Oliver looked at both his father's and Isabel's smiling faces, he forgave his father and stepmother for all the wrongs they had committed against his family. It was now clear to Oliver that his father and Isabel belonged together just as much as Sara and he did.

The somber moment was gone by the time everyone had reached the parking lot of the amusement park, where Robert's limo awaited them. By the time the group had gotten into the limo, everyone was talking about when Sara and Oliver would get married. Eventually, Thea proposed that. “Since Roy and I haven't picked out a wedding date either, why don't we have a double wedding? How does that sound, Oliver?” Oliver just shrugged at that and said, “We'll see.”

Just before the limo reached the hotel everyone in the group was staying at, Oliver turned to his father and Isabel “ Um, I think Sara and will be...celebrating our engagement in our room tonight. But don't worry, we'll keep it down because we don't want to wake you two or Robbie. Just let us know if we do get too loud.”

Isabel chuckled as she held her fast asleep infant in her arms. “That's very kind of you, Oliver. But your father and I plan to be up late…entertaining each other as well, and Robbie sleeps like a rock every night because he gets fed so much during the day. Your father and I “celebrate' together at night all the time, and we've never woken Robbie up once.

…....

The years rolled by rapidly for Isabel, as well as for Robert and his two families. During this time, Isabel and Moira only ran into each other once more, just before Oliver and Thea's rehearsal for their “double wedding” to their significant others. Just before the rehearsal, Walter and Robert left their wives alone for a few minutes to catch up on recent events, leaving the two “Mrs. Queens” alone in one of the pews of the Catholic church where the ceremony was to take place. During this time, Isabel, who suddenly remembered her vow to be a better person, scooted a little closer to Moira and whispered. “ I'm really happy for Oliver and Thea. They really seem happy with their fiancés. “ When Moira just nodded politely, Isabel continued. “ And I know this probably doesn't mean much coming from me, but I'm happy that you and Walter seem to be doing well. Also, I'm sorry that I hurt you...and your family.”

Moira turned and glared at Isabel for a long moment before she finally whispered back. “Really? Which one of the numerous incidents are you referring to, Isabel? Having an affair with my ex-husband? Stealing my family's company from my son? Taking away my daughter's livelihood with the Verdant? Kidnapping and torturing my future son-in law while plotting with a man who was trying to destroy Starling and my family?! What, exactly, are you sorry for?!”

Isabel hung her head in shame. “All of that, mostly. I've tried to undue as much damage to you and your children as I can, Moira. And I'm apologizing for hurting all of you. That's all I can do.”

Moira shook her head. “Your words ring a little hollow, Isabel, now that you have exactly what, or rather, who, you want. Through all your scheming, lying, and harming others, you finally got Robert all to yourself. Can you honestly say that, if you could go back and undo every bad thing you've done to my family, that you would do so, if it meant not being married to my ex-husband now?”

Isabel sighed and shook her head, then looked at Moira. “No. I wouldn't give up Robert for anything, because I love him, and he and I belong together. And I certainly wouldn't give up Robbie. Maybe that means I'm still a bad person, but I hope that I can change that. In the meantime, I am sorry for hurting your family, Moira. I'm sorry that my relationship to your ex-husband started out as an affair that trespassed on your marriage to Robert at the time. But I cannot, I will not, be sorry for having Robert, and I will not apologize for marrying, and having a baby with, the man I love.”

Moira's eyes softened somewhat as she looked down at little Robbie, who Isabel was constantly bouncing up and down on her large belly with both arms during her whispered conversation to Moira, and the Queen matriarch bit back the urge to point out how fat seventy pound Robbie, as well as his morbidly obese parents, had become before the older woman forced a smile and said. “Robert often told me that, no matter how much he loved Thea, he regretted not being able to father another child himself. Being unable to help bring another life into the world was hard for him, in the latter years of his first life. I will admit that part of me is glad that Robert had the chance to have another child. Despite everything, Robert was a good father to both of my children, and I can tell that he loves his second born just as much as he loves them.”

Isabel smiled and nodded. “Yes, Robert's taken to being a father again really well! I dare say that he's a better parent than I am, but then, he's always had strong paternal instincts. I wish I could have accepted that about my husband years ago. To accept that he would always love all of his children and want to be part of their lives...”

“Instead of trying to keep him all to yourself?” Moira interrupted.

Isabel nodded as she continued to stare lovingly at Robbie. “Yes. But I didn't understand back then, you see, never having had parents that loved me. I thought romantic love was the only kind of love that mattered. The only kind of love that was real. Even after I realized the error of my ways after helping Robert defeat Sebastian Blood and his ilk, I never fully got how much parental love meant...Until the first moment I held little Robbie in my arms, and knew that I would love him for the rest of my days. That was the moment I fully understood what a parent's love for their child means. Right, little Robbie? Mommy loves you so much!”

Moira smiled, a real smile, despite herself as Isabel took up Robbie in her arms and gently hugged him. Isabel saw this, then grinned back at Moira and said. “Robert says I spoil Robbie a lot, at least when it comes to food, but since the particle accelarator explosion, I figure it doesn't matter what size our little one grows up to be, as long as he has a good heart, and a good head on his shoulders. Don't you think, Moira?”

Moira shrugged. “How you and Robert raise your child is none of my business, Isabel. That being said, both of my children are over...well, I guess 'overweight' is the wrong term, now that even the largest people can be healthy, but they are bigger people now. And seeing as the whole world is getting fatter, I don't really think it matters what size anybody is anymore.”

Isabel briefly glanced at the small potbelly that Moira now sported and grinned while patting her own large belly. “I obviously agree. And I hope I'm not being rude, but I see you've been taking your own advice on that matter.”

Moira blushed as she put her hand on her small belly. “It's a simple matter of economics, Isabel, nothing more. Foods low in fat and sugar have become nearly impossible to find in a post-accelarator world, due to low demand, and when I brought this fact up to Walter, he said we could start buying more calorific food, instead. Besides, like Robert with you, Walter doesn't mind if there's more of me to love.”

Isabel smiled, as she thought about the glimpse she had caught of Moira rubbing Walter's own slightly larger belly just before entering the church, as the brunette surmised that Moira didn't mind her husband's weight gain, either. Isabel chuckled. “It's nice to have a husband that doesn't care if you blow up , isn't it?”

Moira just chuckled politely as well before Isabel's smile was replaced by a more serious look on the brunette's face. “You know, I am glad that you found someone that makes you happy, Moira. I really mean that. You and Walter obviously make a great couple.”

Moira nodded. “Thank you. And I...” Moira sighed. “I can see now that you and Robert get along much better than me and my ex ever did. If I didn't have Walter in my life now, that would probably make me jealous. As it is...” Moira couldn't help but smile at Robbie, as the baby yawned, then slowly fell asleep in his mother's plump arms as he used Isabel's large belly as a pillow. “I think...maybe things are finally the way they are supposed to be. I may not be a big fan of the route we all took to get here, but I wouldn't trade my children for anything, and I'm glad that we...all of us...”Moira turned her gaze toward the front of the church, were both of her children were preparing to rehearse their vows with their significant others....”Are with the people we're supposed to be with now. “

Isabel nodded. “Me too.”

Moira smiled as she saw her husband, alongside Robert, walking back toward herself and Isabel, and the Queen matriarch rose up to give Walter a hug. Just before Moira did so, however, she turned to Isabel, who had also slowly stood up while holding Robbie, in order to give Robert a kiss, and the blonde woman whispered to the brunette. “And that's why I forgive both you and Robert. For everything.”

Isabel smiled as Moira walked away after saying this, and the brunette couldn't help but be amused by the fact that, even when she was feeling gracious, Moira Queen always had to have the last word. Still, as Isabel carefully kissed her husband while holding Robbie in her arms, for the first time, the brunette didn't feel any residual guilt from her past affair with her current husband. And that fact made Isabel too happy to care about the manner in which Moira had conveyed her forgiveness towards her.

Robert and Isabel witnessed over the years that Roy and Thea's marriage was a happy one, despite, or perhaps, in part, because of, Roy eventually losing his own personal battle of the bulge and becoming fat, just like his wife. Obviously, the effects of the young couple's gluttonous lifestyle, which eventually brought Roy up to 400 pounds, and Thea up to 550, didn't put a strain on their marriage, since Thea and Roy had five children over the years, all of whom grew up to be fat and happy themselves, and ended up marrying partners who were either fat too, or soon became so after marriage. Roy and Thea eventually died very old, enormously fat, and within two years of each other

Sara and Oliver's relationship was a similarly happy, and fattening one, filled with nine fat kids, and later, dozens of chubby in-laws and grandchildren. Even Oliver's bond with his firstborn, William, did not put much of a strain on his relationship to Sara Lance, since Samantha only let Oliver visit William every couple of weekends, anyway. Even so, Oliver was happy for the time he did get to spend with William, as the CEO was able to watch his son grow up, and inevitably, given the influence of his father and stepfather, Tom (a 300 pound man that Samantha eventually married, then grew old and fat with) out, as William would eventually grow to become a 500 pound businessman. Unfortunately, their were two snags in the marriage of the happy, eventually one ton couple( with Oliver breaking the scales at 1,200 pounds, making him the world's fattest CEO, and Sara eventually inflating up to 800 pounds), who died quickly, but ironically, in a boating accident in their eighties. Those snags were named Nyssa al Ghul and Laurel Lance.

A few years after her encounter with Sara at Disneyland, unbeknownst to most, Nyssa “failed” to kill a target for the League of Assassins. Ra's al Ghul had been furious with his daughter's failure, but due to Nyssa's relationship to him, the Demon had commuted the usual punishment for failure in the League, death, into exile from the League of Assassins. Nyssa, being an intelligent woman, had saved up a large sum of cash in case a situation like this arose. However, the daughter of the Demon had been adrift and aimless following her exile, and lacking any real purpose, had attempted to win back the affections of the one person outside the League that she knew: Sara Lance.

Unfortunately, by the time Nyssa had found Sara, the blonde woman was already married to Oliver, with two kids, and a third on the way, making Oliver and Sara's family bigger. Nyssa had burst into tears when Sara showed her ex-girlfriend her wedding band, and introduced the daughter of the Demon to her and Oliver's two kids, A 300 pound Sara had hugged Nyssa out of compassion and sympathy then, which only caused Nyssa to cry harder. “Even now, after moving on to someone else, and after everything I've done to you and your family, you're still so kind to me. And as fat as you've become...” Sara had just laughed at that before Nyssa continued speaking. “You are still so beautiful. But then, you always were better than I deserved, Sara Lance! I was a fool to put my duty to my father above my love for you, and thus, push you away! I know after everything I've done, I don't deserve to be happy. Even so, you were my one chance to have some happiness in this miserable life, and now I've lost that too!”

Sara had dried Nyssa's tears, then, but had made sure to keep some distance between her face and Nyssa's as she said. “Hey, don't talk like that! You've only ever done what your father forced you to do, and you had no control over the family you were born into! I always knew that. And even though I see now that you and I aren't a good romantic match, I hope we can still be friends. Because I know that in your heart, you are still the good, kind person that rescued that scared blonde girl from drowning off the coast of Nada Parbat! And you most certainly do deserve to be happy, Nyssa! There is someone out there that is right for you, and will make you happier than I ever did! I just know it!”

Nyssa had shook her head at that. “I will remain friends with you, belo...Sara, but I doubt there is anyone else out in the world that I could be happy with!”

Sara grinned mischievously as she said. “You know, there's someone I think you should talk to. Someone whose heart I regret breaking even more than I regret breaking yours. I think you two just might be able to help each other....”

And so it was, less than an hour later, that Nyssa al Ghul walked into a Big Belly Burger and saw a 400 pound brown-haired woman. When Nyssa first laid eyes upon this woman from behind, she couldn't help but stare. For although the new DA in Starling City, who had thrown herself into her work, and food, in equal measure after she found out Oliver and Sara were once again romantically entangled, and then married, was very fat, Laurel carried her weight extremely well, and she had thick thighs, pleasantly plump hips, and a big, fat ass to prove it. When Laurel Lance turned around and glared at Nyssa, the former assassin was taken aback by the way adipose had seemed to accumulate on the lawyer in the most beautiful manner possible, giving Laurel a soft, round belly, large, inviting breasts, chubby cheeks and a double chin that Nyssa instantly wanted to kiss. In that moment, before Laurel spoke, Nyssa came to two impossible conclusions. One, that her father had been dead wrong when he had told her, years ago, that fat people were disgusting. And two, that somehow, Laurel had become even more beautiful than her little sister during the process of getting fat. Even the scowl on Laurel's face when she had asked. “What the hell are you doing here?!”, didn't mar Laurel's beauty in Nyssa's eyes. Nor was Nyssa bothered when the brown-haired woman added. “If you're here to try to recruit Sara to your League again, or try to win her heart back, you're shit out of luck! My sister's in almost as bad a shape as I am, and she's married to Oliver fucking Queen!”

Nyssa sighed then, and sat down next to Laurel, noting the three burger meals and three milkshakes (vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry) in front of Laurel as she said. “As I am now discovering, round is a perfectly fine shape to be, even if my father once taught me otherwise. Also, I know both of those things about Sara. I just came from her and Oliver's home. They have a happy family now..”

Laurel rolled her eyes and snorted. “That figures...”

But Nyssa kept talking as if she didn't hear Laurel's words. “But Sara misses having a sister! She told me she invited you to her and Oliver's wedding, but you didn't come. And she calls you twice a week, but you never answer! Why is that?!”

Laurel huffed. “What? Is Sara sending you to try to get me to make up with her now? I can't believe she is that desperate! I have so many reasons to hate you...” Laurel sighed. “But honestly, I can't muster up the energy to be bothered by that now. Sara is beyond your reach, and that of the League, and as for what you did to my mother, well...” Laurel shrugged. “My mother's a bitch who keeps abandoning me and Sara at every opportunity, so I guess I can let you almost killing her go. If you hurt our dad, though, that would be a different story. He may be a workaholic, and a recovering alcoholic, like me, but Quentin Lance is a good father, and I would never forgive you if you ever tried to hurt him!”

Nyssa shook her head. “I would never hurt yours and Sara's father, Laurel. From what I've seen, what Sara has told me, Quentin Lance is a good, wise, man. And like me, he keeps trying to get you and your sister to reconcile, not because we were asked to, but because we both want to see you two happy again.”

Laurel scowled, took a large bit of one of her three triple meat burgers with everything on it, then spoke as soon as she was finished chewing. “Well, yippy skippy for you! But my sister stole and married my boyfriend, and I just don't know if I can forgive her for that!”

Nyssa said nothing for several minutes as Laurel finished scarfing down all of her food and slurping down all three of her milkshakes. Then, the ex-assassin sighed and said. “Well, that's a shame! You know, Laurel, my mother died shortly after I was born, and I barely know my sister, who left Nanda Parbat while I was still learning Arabic! And my father, well...he recently exiled me from the League, and I'm sure you're familiar with his reputation! But your sister loves you, Laurel! I know that she has wronged you in the past, but even when she was being trained with the League, Sara told me that she regretted hurting you because of her dealings with Oliver...”

Laurel opened her mouth for a retort, but Nyssa wouldn't allow it, and put a single finger on Laurel's plump lips, an action which gave both woman goosebumps, before Nyssa continued. “And we both know that Sara's current relationship with Oliver was not such a betrayal, as you and your ex had agreed to be just friends before Sara resumed her romantic relationship with Oliver Queen! Nevertheless, Sara regrets hurting you. She even sent me to talk to you, because she believes that, since Sara broke both our hearts, we could help each other somehow!”

Laurel sighed. “I don't know about that...” Seeing a pleading look in the eyes of the formerly cold, ex-assassin, Laurel was hit with another jolt of warm feelings toward Nyssa that she was not prepared for, and she soon found herself captivated by Nyssa's beautiful, sad eyes as she said. “However, I guess I could give Sara a call tonight. And maybe there is a way we could help each other. But only if you buy me another triple burger combo with the works! And another chocolate milkshake! Those are my favorite!”

Nyssa blinked in confusion. “Sara says you are a well-paid lawyer. How is that you lack the funds to pay for all the food you desire?”

Laurel laughed. “Have you seen my fat ass!? It takes a lot of calories to keep this rocking bod!”

Laurel chuckled again, but Nyssa did not as she replied. “Indeed. It must take a lot of sinfully delicious food to keep your form so soft and pleasing to the eye.”

Hearing the seductive tone in Nyssa's voice, and the come-hither look in the raven-haired beauty's eyes, Laurel's eyes widened. “Shit! You're serious! You actually think I look good as a fat ass?! Damn, I've seen my sister and Oliver get fat together, now I find out you're a chubby chaser as well?!”

Nyssa smiled. “I don't know this 'chubby chaser' term, but I do find you quite attractive at your current size, yes.”

Laurel smiled evilly. “Well, in that case...You definitely need to buy me another meal and milkshake! Because there is no way I'm going to have people whispering that I'm so easy that I slept with you before you bought me a meal!”

Nyssa gulped, and goosebumps returned to her arms. “You want to sleep with me? Sara never said you were bisexual...”

Laurel blushed. “My sister doesn't know everything about me. I...experimented with other women in college when Oliver and I were on a break for a few months. Nothing long term came of it, but some of those encounters were...nice. Nice enough that I wouldn't mind another one night stand with a woman as beautiful as you, seeing as I haven't gotten any in years! Especially if it means we can have a little revenge sex by sleeping with each other before I reconcile with Sara! So...”

Laurel leaned close to Nyssa's face and whispered. “So...how about it? Do you want to pay for all my meals, and my milkshakes?”

Nyssa's mind screamed that her current course of action was crazy, even as her heart gained control of her vocal cords and caused her to say...”Of course.”

Shortly thereafter, when Nyssa had paid for Laurel's whole check, including the fourth combo meal and milkshake that Laurel was enjoying, Nyssa couldn't help but be fascinated by the way Laurel moaned and closed her eyes as she ate her food, slower this time, as if the large woman was making love to her meal. This, and the way that Laurel would occasionally drink her milkshake by wrapping her lips around her straw in a very sexual manner, while shooting suggestive looks in Nyssa's direction, did something to Nyssa's insides that made the Daughter of the Demon hungry and horny at the same time. Nyssa cleared her throat and pointed to the milkshake Laurel was sipping on. “Can I have a sip of that? And maybe a few bites of your burgers or fries? I was never allowed to eat food like that on Nanda Parbat...”

Laurel scoffed. “No way! I'm hungry! If you're so curious about fast food, order your own!”

Nyssa nodded. “Okay. I will!” Nyssa turned to a nearby waiter and said. “I would like a large chocolate milkshake, and a large triple burger combo with the works please, just like my beautiful friend here!”

The waiter just nodded and went to retrieve Nyssa's food while Laurel smiled. “Wow. That's a lot of food for a little girl like you! Are you sure you can eat all of that?!”

Nyssa's face became serious. “I am Nyssa al Ghul, daughter of the Demon! I can do anything! Besides, I would like to see what it is like to eat until I'm completely full! I've never been allowed to do that before!”

Laurel just nodded at that. Moments later, just as Laurel was finishing her meal, Nyssa's came out. The Daughter of the Demon immediately picked up her cheeseburger, took a bite...then moaned quietly for several seconds. Nyssa said something in Arabic, then added. “This burger is amazing! Is all fast food this good!?”

Laurel shook her head. “Sadly, no. Big Belly Burger has the best cheap food in town! That, and my appetite...” Laurel playfully smacked her large belly, making the brown-haired woman's belly, breasts, and double chin all shake in tandem for a second before she kept talking. “Are why I come here all the time! Here, try the fries with some ketchup!”

After Laurel dumped a large amount of ketchup on Nyssa's plate, Nyssa stuck a single fry in the red substance, then ate the fried potato slice and moaned again. “This is so good!”

Laurel was transfixed with the way Nyssa was chewing and swallowing her food now, even as moans continued to escape Nyssa's beautiful lips as the petite woman slowly ate, alternating between fries and bites of her huge burger. At one point, Laurel cheeks turned bright red as she saw a bit of ketchup staining the left side of Nyssa's bottom lip. Before the DA could stop herself, her hand reached out and wiped the offending bit of red sauce off Nyssa's lips...before bringing the ketchup to her own lips using her index finger. “Mmm. That's good!”

Laurel felt like the devil on Nyssa's shoulder, as she whispered. “The milkshake. Try that next!”

Nyssa immediately obeyed by wrapping her tongue around the straw in her milkshake before the raven-haired woman put her lips around the straw and began sucking the cold, chocolates liquid into her mouth while looking right at Laurel in a way that made the brown-haired woman want to tackle Nyssa and have her way with the Daugher of the Demon on the floor of Big Belly Burger. Somehow, however, Laurel restrained herself, and all too soon, Nyssa was done eating. The raven-haired woman leaned back as she stroked her own painfully full belly. After exclaiming something else in Arabic, Nyssa said in English “How can I feel so good when my stomach hurts so bad?!”

Laurel shrugged as she patted her own large, but not quite as full, belly. “That's what happens when you eat a lot of really good food! And believe me, I would know!”

Nyssa laughed. “I suppose you would! Still, I wouldn't take this feeling back if I could! It feels so good to eat until I'm full! And fast food is amazing! Why do people act like this kind of food is so bad when it taste this good?! I'm surprised more people don't eat like this every day!”

Laurel chuckled. “If everybody ate that much fast food everyday, then everybody would be fat, just like me!”

Nyssa grinned as she laid some money down on the table for her own meal, plus a large tip for both her and Laurel's food. “Then everyone should be fat, then! I've been thin all my life, and I have to tell you, being thin does not feel as good as this delicious food taste!”

Laurel smiled. “Well, I used to be thin too, and...” The brown-haired woman chuckled and whispered. “I guess I agree with you! It's too bad even eating doesn't feel as good as getting laid! And I'm serious when I say that if you eat like that everyday, you're going to get fat!”

Nyssa smiled. “I think...I would like that, actually. I've been in excellent shape all my life, not because I choose to be, but because my father forced me to be, by making me undergo five hours a day of grueling exercises and a very restricted diet. If I'm going to be a civilian now, I would like to leave that restricted life behind me. That means no more working out. No more restricting my eating, and no more worrying about being fit! I'm going to replace duty with pleasure! The assassins' twisted sense of honor for pure, culinary induced happiness! And if that means I get really fat in the process...” Nyssa shrugged. “Okay, then! And If I turn out to be half as beautiful a fat woman as you, well...” Nyssa gave Laurel a seductive look as she reached under both the table, and Laurel's shirt, to rub Laurel's stomach., then whispered “I'm sure I won't have any trouble at all getting laid!”

Laurel's breathing quickened then, and the fat woman let out a moan that was just a little too loud to be decent in the family-friendly restaruant before Laurel bit her lip and whispered. “I need to take you to my apartment and have my way with you right now!”

Nyssa smirked and whispered back. “Whatever you desire, my reubenesque angel!”

Nyssa and Laurel made loud, passionate love that night as they ran their hands all over each other, and did indecent things to each other with their mouths and fingers. Although both women were enthralled by each other's beauty, what really drove Laurel wild was the way Nyssa frequently caressed and nibbled on the brown-haired woman's large, dropping breast, shook and squeezed Laurel's basketball-sized ass cheeks, and kissed Laurel's chunky thighs, as well as every inch of stretch marks and cellulite that the Daughter of the Demon could find on her lover's naked body. These actions, combined with the obvious desire in Nyssa's eyes, and the way the raven-haired woman kept whispering “beautiful!” as she made love to Laurel, made Laurel actually feel beautiful for the first time in years. The way the Nyssa practically worshipped the brown-haired woman's “problem areas” made Laurel feel, for the very first time, that they weren't problem areas at all. For the first time, Laurel believed that somehow, she was beautiful. And fat. At the same time.

The two lovers fell asleep in each other's arms that night. And somehow, Laurel couldn't bear to kick Nyssa, who Laurel very well knew had nowhere else to go, out of her apartment. So after the two women split a large breakfast of pancakes, waffles, French toast, bacon, sausage and eggs, Laurel gave Nyssa a quick kiss and said. “You can hang out here today, if you want. But I have to go work. Are you going to be here when I get back?”

Nyssa nodded. “If that is acceptable to you. I have nowhere better to be than with you, beautiful.”

Laurel gulped and nodded at that. “Okay. Then I'll be sure to pick up a movie and some Chinese take-out on my way back home. I would hate to be a bad host for however long you're here...” Nyssa smiled as she realized that Laurel had called her apartment “home”, instead of, “my home.” Laurel then quickly added before she walked out the front door of her apartment. “Oh, food is in the fridge and cupboards, help yourself to whatever you want! I have some books in the bookshelf on the wall next to my bedroom if you get bored. Or you can watch TV. I have about a million channels, which my high paying job lets me pay for, but doesn't give me the time to watch.”

Nyssa smiled. “I saw the books in your bookshelf. I read them all in my studies at Nanda Parbat, and I do not wish to read them again. But I could try being a...what is that strange expression again? Oh yes. I will try being a couch potato by watching TV and eating junk food all day! I think that would actually be quite fun!”

Laurel smiled and shrugged as she opened her front door. “Go nuts, then. Have a great day, Nyssa. I love you!”

Laurel stopped, closed the door, then turned back to a smirking Nyssa as the heavier woman fumbled for words. “Ok. That just slipped out! I didn't mean to say that I...I mean, it would be ridiculous if I literally meant that I...”But somehow Laurel couldn't get the denial past her lips. As someone who had been taught at a young age that “Honesty is the best policy,” lying had never come naturally to Laurel. And no matter how many times Laurel had been forced to tell lies since then, falsehoods just felt wrong on her tongue. Especially concerning matters of the heart. Therefore, all Laurel was able to stammer out was. “I mean...It would be crazy if I was already in love with my sister's ex-girlfriend, the woman that threatened my mother....right?!”

Nyssa shrugged as she walked towards a trembling Laurel, while trying to ignore how Laurel's tremors of anxiety were making the larger woman shake in a beautiful cascade of flesh and fat. “Life is crazy! Love is crazy! And it's okay...”Nyssa kissed Laurel deeply for several seconds, then smiled at Laurel's gasp before she said. “I'm already in love with you too, reubenesque angel!”

From that moment on, Laurel and Nyssa's destinies were intertwined as the two women kept falling ever harder for each other. The two lovers made love every night, and sometimes, on weekends, or on workdays were Laurel could have a “long lunch” at home, several times a day. In the meantime, Laurel and Nyssa continued eating to their heart's content both while together at home, or separately, while Laurel worked, and Nyssa watched TV, surfed the internet, and made several online investments with her “retirement money”, using knowledge she gleaned from television, online, and from finance books Nyssa had read long ago. Laurel never made her lover pay rent, even though Nyssa continued to stay at Laurel's place every night, but the Daughter of the Demon voluntarily paid for all of the groceries, as well as her and Laurel's clothes. All of the chips, candy, ice cream, pasta, and other calorie-filled foods that Nyssa and Laurel enjoyed, and all of the clothes the growing couple kept growing out off, didn't come cheap, but Nyssa didn't mind. After all, with the good investments the raven-haired woman had made, which had made her a multi-millionaire, Nyssa could more than afford it.

Of course, with unlimited funds, food, and clothes, Laurel quickly grew fatter, and Nyssa also grew quite fat! However, to both women's immense relief, Laurel and Nyssa's attraction for each other only grew stronger as they both packed on the pounds. Therefore, even as Nyssa quickly gained a large belly, thunder thighs, a soft, fat ass, chubby cheeks, the beginning of a double chin, and cellulite and stretch marks everywhere, as the formerly active raven-haired woman ate junk food all day and performed almost no physical activity in Laurel's apartment, and the slightly more active Laurel, who didn't have as much time to eat during the day, slowly gained weight in the same corresponding areas of her fatter body, the two lovers became even more enraptured with each other. Every new inch of flesh, every curve, roll, dimple, bit of cellulite, and stretchmark was fondled, kissed, nibbled on, and whenever feasible, fucked, when the increasingly heavy couple made scream inducing, toe-curling love. Furthermore, as Nyssa and Laurel grew fatter, they grew more and more entranced by each other's gluttony, to the point that they started tearing each other's clothes off and making love to each other after every meal. This made Laurel late to work several times, as many a large breakfast lead to post- meal coitus. And if their full stomachs often caused Laurel and Nyssa to burp and fart throughout their sexual encounters well...they eventually decided they didn't mind.

So great was Nyssa and Laurel's fast developing love for each other that they started referring to each other as “girlfriend ” after only one month, started going on formal dates outside the apartment after three months, and Laurel re-introduced Nyssa to her family as her girlfriend after only six months. Quentin was, predictably, horrified. “How could you be dating...well, her?!”Oliver, for his part, just seemed shocked, and said nothing. But it was Sara who had the most surprising reaction, as the blonde woman smiled and said. “Excellent! Things went just as I planned!”

Sara had then revealed that she had been very aware that her sister was bisexual, and that Nyssa had always been Laurel's type, except for one detail. “I would warn you that my sister likes her girls fat, but I can see that you are already on you way there!”

Nyssa smiled and patted her large potbelly proudly, letting a loud “URP!” escape her lips after consuming three (of the twelve that had been ordered for this Lance/Queen gathering) large pizzas, before Nyssa said. “Yep! My inner fat girl is definitely coming out to play!” Everyone at the gathering had just laughed at that, except Laurel, who gave her girlfriend a seductive look and ran her leg down her girlfriend's thigh under the table, confirming that Laurel was very happy Nyssa had decided to keep getting fatter.

And fatter is just what both Laurel and Nyssa most definitely become over the years. A trend which only increased in speed the moment Laurel retired from her DA job, only a little over a year after her and Nyssa got married, citing “a hostile work environment for plus size individuals ” as her reason. Laurel and Nyssa enjoyed a life of luxury that included a large mansion, all of the food they could ever want...and absolutely no exercise. Despite attending several charity functions (and donating a lot of money to Robert and Isabel's charity) Laurel became immobile at 850 pounds, and started having to use a scooter to get around everywhere. Nyssa, despite being only a little over 600 pounds at the time, joined her wife in living an immobile lifestyle by voluntarily using a scooter to get everywhere. As a consequence, within a year, Nyssa Lance (for she had forsaken her old name years ago) gained another 200 pounds over the next year, and became truly immobile as well due to her increased weight and atrophied leg muscles.

Luckily, Laurel had thought ahead, and had hired a full staff to take care of her and her wife when they could no longer take care of themselves, years ago. These staff, which all happened to be thin, attractive women when they were hired, but always somehow ended up obese within a year's time, did everything for their spoiled mistresses, cooking, feedings, cleaning, helping Laurel and Nyssa shower and use the bathroom, and even, some whispered, assisting their mistresses in having sex once Laurel and Nyssa became so enormously fat that they could no longer reach each other's genitalia unassisted. Many speculated that this “special duty” was the reason that Laurel and Nyssa rewarded all staff members who stayed in their employee more that ten years with staff, various luxuries, and a generous allowance of their own. Which was a good thing, because most women who stayed on that long eventually got so fat, they became immobile themselves.

These rumors were never proven, although it was known that in their latter years, Laurel and Nyssa each weighed well over a thousand pounds, making them one of the world's first one-ton-plus couples, and the two woman became recluses that never left their estate. It was also said that the two rich women had become little more than enormous balls of lard by then, and that fat now dominated their features, giving them four chins each, bellies that were so massive they not only covered the women's vaginas, but rolled off their beds and halfway down to the floor, and that their huge, cellulite and stretchmark covered thighs, hips, and asses made both women wider than they were tall. However, all of those that were still allowed to see the enormous women, including their families and staff, all agreed on one thing, Nyssa and Laurel were still indescribably happy together, and the two mega obese (a term that had been invented after the particle accelerator explosion allowed more and more humans to grow absolutely massive) women were nearly always holding hands, even when their staff were feeding them, which was most of the time. The two huge women were even holding hands when both of them had heart attacks in their sleep in their late nineties. It was said in their last moments, Laurel and Nyssa were still sucking on the chocolate shake machines which constantly fed them in their sleep, to keep them from getting hungry in the middle of the night. Seeing as all of the living relatives they cared about were already wealthy, Laurel and Nyssa had divided their large fortune (which had become billions, due to more smart investing on Nyssa's part) between several charities, as well as their past and present staff members, which the spouses' will stated, were “ such amazing caregivers! We consider you part of our family, and we want you all to be well taken care of for the rest of your days!”

Isabel and Robert had a similar fate as the rest of their family, as the couple grew old (in Robert's case, grew old again) and very fat together. The “Smith's” charity eventually, took off in a big way, spreading from Coast to coast (including, much to Robert's delight, to Starling, giving the father an excuse to visit his adult children more often). Eventually, the charity extended around the world, until, (partly as a result of some the technologies that everyone in the extended Queen family invested in, which made food cheap and plentiful worldwide), their were no more starving or homeless people on Earth. In fact, by the time of Isabel and Robert's death, most of the world's population was obese. This had, of course, caused some problems, but most people were confident that advances in science would solve these issues in the near future. 

During their happy lives together, nobody ever saw Isabel and Robert fight, although many supposed that one of the reasons for this was, as “Summer Smith” herself once said in an interview. “My husband and I obviously love to eat all the time, but whenever we get upset or mad, especially at each other, we consume even more. We basically eat our feelings until we are both happy again, and we can discuss matters with clear, collected heads, instead of fighting.” What Isabel had neglected to mention, however, was that the eventually mega-obese couple usually screwed each other's brains out right afterwards. 

During their travels, Robert and Isabel ate from cuisine all over the world, adding more and more to their waistlines as they went, and Robbie was invited to attend almost all of these meals (apart from the “sexy snacks” the size of family-sized meals that his parents shared in private just before sex), as he traveled with his parents everywhere they went. Although Robbie learned much of their world from his travels with his parents, and the private tutor that also traveled with them, the boy yearned for more adventure in his teen years, and sometimes snuck out to explore cities on his own. One result of this was that Robbie ended up getting a Parisian girl, one that he had several rendezvous with during his parent's frequent visits to the “City of Lights”, pregnant when he was only seventeen. Robbie eventually married his “baby mama ”, a rail-thin, female fat admirer named Sophia, on his eighteenth birthday, just days before their child, a fat little girl named Shado, was born. But Robbie and Sophia did not stop there, as they had five more fat children over the next seven years, a process which made Sophia herself quite fat, as her formerly fast metabolism crashed, and was unable to burn off all her pregnancy weight. Not that either of the happy, fat spouses minded in the slightest. Robbie and Sophia were very old when they died in a car crash, and the 600 pound woman, and 700 pound man, had seen many of their grandchildren born by that point.

Unfortunately, Walter Steele was only 60 years old when he had an aneurysm, and the 500 pound man died in his sleep. Moira Queen, his 600 pound wife, had not taken it well. The older woman had killed herself with a cyanide capsule (a fact which Isabel felt was awfully ironic, for reasons she never told anyone) right after discovering her husband's dead body in bed next to her, then calling the paramedics. The entire extended Queen family, including, to the living couple's great surprise, Robert and Isabel (in their guises of John and Summer Smith) was invited to the funeral. Robert Queen cried alongside his children while mourning his ex-wife and former best friend, even as Isabel, who had come to understand over many years that Robert had still cared about the well-being of the mother of two of his children, even though he had never been in love with Moira, held her husband's hand in support as Robert shook his head and said. “Losing my old friend is bad enough, but I don't understand why Moira would do this...”

“I do.” Isabel whispered sofly into her husband's ear. “She loved Walter too much to want to live without him. I know that, because that's exactly the way I feel about you.”

Robert had just nodded at that, because he knew in his heart that he would not want to live without his soulmate, Isabel, ever again, and that chastising his wife for her remark would be hypocritical. Still, Robert Queen was careful to watch his health after that, making sure to always fit in as many essential nutrients and vitamins as possible into his daily routine of gorging, public events for his and Isabel's charity, R&R, and sex with his massive wife. Even so, like Nyssa and Laurel, Robert and Isabel both eventually became immobile due to their lazy, gluttonous lifestyle. But the mega-obese couple continued to make charitable appearances and go out on dates using their custom built, heavy duty scooters, to demonstrate to people that “It's okay to be mega fat!” in public. Forty years after they had both become immobile, the one-ton-plus couple's marriage hit a little snag called death.

Robert Queen, who by this point, needed an oxygen mask on his fat, quadruple chinned face in the evenings just to breath in his sleep, started breathing hard one morning, right after he and his wife had sex with mechanical aids, a process which caused the man's quadruple belly, large, tree-trunk sized legs, huge ass as wide as a small car, huge layers of back fat and moobs which dipped below his navel, to shake in tandem. His even fatter, equally immobile wife was powerless to do anything but cry, causing the woman's watermelon sized cheeks, quadruple chin, huge, single belly which almost reached the floor, breasts which rested on her elephant-like, long useless, thighs, humongous rolls of back fat, and massive ass cheeks, which had recently made it into the record books as the world's largest butt, to shake uncontrollably. Isabel was inconsolable by the time the paramedics reached the deceased super-centurion, and it took two teams of paramedics to lug Robert and the 106 year-old Isabel, who was now having a heart-attack of her own as she continued crying without ceasing, into separate ambulances, but their efforts were for naught, as Isabel died on the way to the hospital as well. Isabel's official cause of death was “a trauma induced heart-attack” from watching her husband die in front of her. But all of the living extended Queen family members knew the truth. Isabel Queen (for the family had released the deceased couple's real names to the public after their deaths) had died of a broken heart after her husband, Robert Queen, died. Through their descendants, as well as their charity, however, Isabel and Robert left a great legacy behind them.

But this was just the beginning of Robert and Isabel's story.

Elsewhere...

A woman who last remembered being well over 1,000 pounds (no one could tell exactly how heavy her or her husband had been, since no scales had been invented that could measure humans that heavy, but it had been known that the brunette and her husband had been among the world's largest couples, possibly even heavier than the famous Laurel and Nyssa Lance) opened her eyes. The first thing she saw in the strange, blue and green room she was in was a sign that read, “Welcome! Everything is fine!”

A startled Isabel Queen, whose last memory involved having a sharp pain in her large chest that was no longer present, instinctively made a move to jump off of the comfortable coach she was sitting on. To Isabel's astonishment, she was actually able to quickly rise to her feet. Rather easily, in fact.

Needless to say, this was a suprise to Isabel, whose fat body had made her immobile for more years than she cared to think about just now. Isabel nibbled on her bottom lip nervously as she looked down at her body while simultaneously running her hands down her slender arms, legs, and a butt so small, it could hardly be called an ass. Then Isabel locked at a nearby full-length mirror..and promptly fell back down on to the coach behind her in shock. The image in the mirror looked exactly like Isabel had looked the night she and Robert took a plane to Tahiti...all those decades ago, right down to the brunette (not gray) hair, slender, nearly anorexic, body and an outfit that hadn't fit Isabel in nearly a century. Isabel, who had gotten used to having a large, soft body, instead of a frame that allowed her to feel her ribs through her dress as she held her arms to her sides now, started crying. “What the hay is going on!? Why am I saying hay?! I meant hay!”

A tall, but unintimidating bespectacled, white-haired man came into the same room as Isabel through a doorway the brunette could have sworn hadn't existed the last time she had looked at that wall. The white-haired man smiled and put his hands in front of him, palms extended towards the floor, in a calming gesture. “Hey, there's no need for any of that now! Sorry you can't curse here, but rest assured, as the sign in front of you says, everything is going to be just fine!”

Isabel shook her head, but stopped crying, and refrained from trying to curse again as she stood up and said. “Where the ha...where am I, and why aren't I dead in the ground next to my husband right now?! And why am I skinny?! I liked being fat, and… Wait...” Isabel looked around the room rapidly. “Where is my husband!? If I'm here, then surely Robert...”

The white-haired man's shook his head a little bit as he slowly led Isabel into the room he had just stepped out of by gently pushing the woman's back. “Hey, don't worry about Robert Queen right now. I understand you have questions, and I have the answers. All you need to do is step into my office, take a seat, and I will explain everything...”

Isabel reluctantly took a seat in a small, comfortable blue chair in front of the strange man's desk, in the oddest office she had ever seen, which featured Knick knacks of all kinds, including more paper clips than Isabel had ever seen in one place. The white-haired man smiled jovially at Isabel as he said. “My name is Michael! As the architect of this particular community, it is my duty and pleasure to welcome you to, and congratulate you for making it into, the Good Place!”

Isabel shook her head. “What is the Good Place? Wait. don't tell me. Are you saying I'm in heaven?! Which one? Which religion, if any, got the afterlife right?”

Michael shrugged, but his eyes looked surprised at Isabel's straightforward questions as he replied. “This is...every heaven...and none of them. All of the major religions got this place a little bit right, and a little bit wrong, too.”

Isabel smirked and nodded. “That makes sense. I thought that if this place existed at all, the truth would be something like that. I can't wait to tell Robert he was right! Heaven is real, and we both made it in! When can I see my husband again?”

Michael shook his head. “We'll get to that in a minute or so. I have to ask you a question, though. How do you remember you died? Usually souls who had embarrassing deaths have their memories of their death wiped before they come here.”

Isabel shrugged. “My husband and I had heart-attacks after making love. Why would I be embarrassed that most of my last moments were spent in the arms of the man I love?”

Michael nodded. “Ah, I see. Different people are embarrassed by different things. So I guess if you, personally, didn't find your death embarrassing, you would be allowed to remember it.”

Isabel scowled. “Speaking of not being embarrassed by things, I wasn't embarrassed of being fat, so why was I made skinny here? Is gluttony really that big a sin?”

Michael chuckled. “No, not at all...unless cannibalism is involved. You'll find plenty of fellow 'chunksters', as one of our residents here effectionately refers to larger individuals, in this community. This form you are currently inhabiting is simply your default form in this place, created to resemble yourself in your prime of life, and at your smallest adult size, for ease of transportation from place to place within the afterlife. But you can take on just about any form, at any size, at will. Barring a few restrictions...”

But Isabel had already willed herself into a new form with a single thought, and by the time Michael could finish his sentence, Isabel was back to the same size she had been just before she died. However, Isabel's hair remained brunette, instead of gray, as it had been in her latter years of life, and her old wrinkles were still nowhere in sight. Also, the young-looking, hugely fat version of Isabel, to her own surprise, was wearing an enormous, form fitting version of the dress her “thin self” had just been wearing, and the chair underneath her now huge ass had turned into a large, very sturdy, but comfortable, bench to accommodate her large form.

Michael smiled as Isabel gasped. “Yes, in the Good Place, even the furniture is built for your comfort, and will expand or shrink to accommodate whichever form you choose to take! And I apologize, but public nudity is another thing that isn't allowed in the Good Place, hence the expanded dress. I hope you find it to your liking.”

Isabel nodded, causing all of her chins and large cheeks to wobble as she said. “I'm not really used to wearing clothes at this size, but I will admit that this dress is both comfortable and elegant. So...you said no public nudity is allowed...so does that mean that I'm only allowed to be undressed when I'm alone, or....”

Michael coughed nervously. “Or with your soulmate, whomever he, or she, happens to be. We're still trying to figure out who that it is. We have a very finely tuned system, but...”

Isabel glared at Michael. “Robert Queen is my soulmate, and you've dodged my questions about him long enough! Where is my husband!?”

Michael sighed, took off his glasses, then made a show of running his hands over his face before putting his glasses back on and said. “Isabel...I know from your file that you loved the man a lot, but your relationship with Robert Queen started as an affair, and that is a sure sign that man isn't, he can't be, your soulmate!”

Isabel shook her head. “Like hay he can't! I saved Robert's life, multiple times, and Robert Queen did even better than that, he saved my soul! He healed my heart when I though it had been shattered beyond repair! He made me a better person! Me being here today is proof of that!”

Michael nodded and shuffled some papers around on his desk, looked at one for a few seconds, then said. “Yes, your file does say that Robert Queen did have a positive impact on your life in his second life. He was the first person you learned to love more than yourself, and you were even willing to give Robert up in order to save him. After that, you started exhibiting rather remarkable positive changes in behavior and attitude. At first, after Robert survived his neurological treatments, you only helped others through yours and Robert's charity in order to keep your vow, to keep Robert alive. But eventually, you grew to like helping people, giving starving, homeless people a roof over their heads, enough food to fill, nay fatten, their bellies, and a reason to get up in the morning. Your motives, for the most part, became good, as well as your actions. That is why you are in the Good Place, Isabel! Because you got enough good karma points to outweigh the bad karma points you accumulated during your affair with Robert, your employment with Stellmoore International, and your dealings with Slade Wilson...”

Isabel pounded her fist on Michael's desk, causing the white-haired man to jump a little in his seat, before she said. “I don't care about any of that right now! Where is Robert Queen?! Bring him into this room, watch us interact for five minutes, and you will see for yourself that he's my soulmate!”

Michael shook his head. “I'm afraid I can't do that, Isabel. Robert Queen was assigned to the Bad Place. He isn't allowed to see you here.”

Isabel instantly changed back to her slender form (and her bench, once again, became a chair), stood up in front of Michael's desk and slammed both of her fists down on the solid oak table in front of the bespectacled man again. “What the fork?! Wait, seriously, fork? Every time I try to say fork, I'll say fork? Never mind, doesn't matter! If I made it to the Good Place, Robert Queen must have too! He's a way better person than I am!”

Michael shook his head again. “I'm sorry, but our point system is never wrong, and it disagrees with you! See for yourself!”

Isabel looked at the huge stack of papers Michael handed her, which were filled with complex equations and positive or negative numbers attached to different actions, from the innocuous, such as “Stopped to pet a dog on the way to work”, or “Jaywalked”, to more serious behaviors, “ Accidently committed manslaughter, then covered it up” and “Helped second wife found charity that housed and fed over a billion people worldwide.” Isabel sighed as she set the papers down on the desk in front of Michael. “I know I have eternity, but I don't want Robert to spend one more second in the Bad Place, being tortured, I assume, then he has to before I can prove to you that you, and all of the other aceholes in the afterlife, messed up this time, so you can bring my husband to the Good Place! Where he belongs! With me! So just give me the Cliff notes version. Are you seriously telling me that a lifetime of charitable giving was outweighed by a few bad choices on Robert's part earlier in his life?”

Michael tapped his finger against his desk for a couple seconds before he said. “Okay, first of all, you have to remember that founding that charity was your idea, and Robert mostly only went along with it to make you happy! Your late husband did experience some moments of pure altruism over the years, and eventually learned to love giving to the less fortunate for its own sake, but it took him many years longer than you to reach that point. Any good he did before then had impure motives, so we weren't allowed to credit those good points to his account.”

Isabel shook her head and started crying as she looked away from Michael. “That...that's just stupid! Whatever his motives, Robert Queen did a lot of good for the world when he was alive, especially when we were first founding our charity together! I never could have done that without Robert's help!”

Isabel suddenly stopped crying and turned back to Michael. “That's it! Without Robert Queen, I wouldn't have been able to do half as much good for the world as I did! He helped me found and run that charity! So how about I just gift Robert however many good karma points he needs to get into the Good Place, since I wouldn't have been able to get here without him in the first place?! Would that work?”

Michael shook his head and sighed. “Theoretically. You have just enough left over good karma points to get Robert here without endangering your own spot in the Good Place. Barely. Unfortunately, we're not allowed to do that here.”

Isabel scowled at Michael. “Why the hay not?! They're my points, I earned them while I was alive! I can do what I want with them!”

Michael frowned. “Unfortunately, you can't. Karma Points are non-transferable! That's a rule for a reason. Pretty much every person in the Good Place has at least one loved one that ended up in the Bad Place that they would give anything to rescue from there, no matter how bad that other person was in life. Plus, there are many super-altruistic individuals here who would give away every good karma point they have to save as many people from the Bad Place as possible. If we let people transfer points, we'd have to empty out half of the Bad Place!”

Isabel crossed her arms and huffed. “Than maybe that should tell you something. If all of the good people, whom I'm, surprisingly, one of, feel that nobody should have to suffer for all of eternity in the Bad Place, than maybe the Bad Place shouldn't exist! Maybe you should find a way to turn bad people into good people instead, so that everyone could come to the Good Place!”

Michael rolled his eyes. “We could debate that position for all of eternity! In fact, many people in the Good Place have been trying to change Upper Management's position on this matter since the original Bad Place was invented! Hasn't worked yet.”

Isabel paced around the room for several seconds, then turned back to Michael and pointed her right index finger at the man. “Fine. So doing away with the Bad Place is a non-starter, for now. Believe me, I've grown to care too much about people over the years for me to give that cause up entirely. You can look forward to me being a thorn in Upper Management's, whomever that is, side for all of eternity until the Bad Place is abolished. But for now, I would like to focus on saving my husband from an unjust punishment. Robert Queen is a good man! Just because he made a few bad decisions in his life...”

Michael had a dead serious look on his face before he retorted. “A few? Try thousands! His affair with you, multiple loveless affairs before that...'

Isabel wrinkled her brow in confusion as she said. “It matters if the affair is loveless?”

Michael nodded, and the man gave Isabel a sympathetic look before he said. “Yes. A little bit. All affairs, any kind of cheating outside of a committed relationship, really, give negative karma points. But at least if there is love between two people in an affair, especially if that affair leads to a lifelong marriage later, the motives for that affair aren't considered quite as bad, so those kinds of illicit romances don't count against a person quite as much. That's why your affair with Robert didn't count against you two as much as all of the ones your late husband committed purely out of boredom and loneliness before he met you. And in case you were going to ask, no, Robert didn't have any affairs after he was in a reunited with you in his second life, because he was actually happy with you the whole time you two were together. I guess he really did love you more than he loved Moira. I hope that brings you some consolation.”

Before Isabel could open her mouth to reply, Michael put an “all business” look back on his face and resumed speaking. “Robert also committed numerous acts of blackmail during his lifetime while he worked for Tempest, and he was, for a time, a co-conspirator with Malcolm Merlyn involving the Undertaking, a monstrous endeavor which Robert ultimately failed to stop, which killed hundreds of people. Furthermore, Robert committed multiple acts of murder and manslaughter during his lifetime. The man also committed suicide off the coast of Lian Yu. And that's just a few of the 'highlights' that gave Robert Queen many, many, bad karma points! Enough that, despite all of his good deeds later in life, Robert Queen just barely failed to get into the Good Place!”

Isabel shook her head. The brunette knew just about all of Robert's sins already, including all the people her late husband had killed. At one point, Robert had even told her about the murder/suicide that Robert had committed against one of the crewman that had made it to the lifeboat, as well as himself, in an attempt to save his son's life after the wreck of the Queen's Gambit. Isabel had actually considered the father's sacrifice to save his son heroic at the time, and she understood that Robert considered the death of the crewman a “necessary evil” to save his son, and hopefully, his city. With all of this in mind, Isabel had an angry look on her face as she argued with Michael. “Yes, I know about all of that! My husband told me about all of his sins, and he also told me why he did all of those things! There were extenuating circumstances involving most of those...”

Michael chuckled mirthlessly. “There are always ‘extenuating circumstances’! There is always an excuse with you humans!” Michael spoke in a slightly mocking voice now. 'I was unloved as a child! My parents died when I was young, or abandoned me! My father hit me! My stepparent molested me! My wife or husband didn't love me enough! I had to save my country, or my family, or my friends, or myself, no matter how many other people got hurt in the process, because I couldn't let the people I cared about get hurt!'

A look of realization came across Isabel's face. “You humans?' As in, you're not one? What does that make you, exactly?”

Michael shrugged. “Think of me as an angel, if that's easy for you. But honestly, I'm more like celestial middle-management. I'm still more advanced than you limited humans, though. For example, I'm a hay of a lot smarter that most of you, except maybe super geniuses life Einstein, and I don't have as many pesky emotions as homo sapiens do!”

Isabel glared at Michael. “Than you don't know ship! I mean ship! You know what I mean...about being human, then! You don't know how hard it is! How messy life as a human can be! When you're human, even plans made with the best of intentions can go catastrophically wrong, and hurt a lot of people! Good people can became bad because of severe emotional trauma that you couldn't possibly understand without experiencing it, or because a chemical, or a blow to the head, or a thousand other things cause a person's neurons to fire wrong, and make them act out violently! You don't know how easy it is for a human to fall in love with…” Isabel used her fingers to make air quotes, ‘the wrong person’, or to do something stupid out of anger. If you don't have the first idea what it's like to be human, what right do you have to sit in judgment on us?!”

Michael was actually rendered speechless for a few seconds, before he blinked and said. “Actually, deciding who goes where in the afterlife is a job handled by celestials in another department, not me. But you're right that I don't know what it's like to be human. If you wanted one up on me, there it is.”

Isabel sighed, then sat down again in the chair across from Michael and sobbed. “I didn't want...I don't want to be better than you, or anybody. I just want to see Robert!”

Michael gave Isabel an understanding look as he reached out his hand towards the woman's forehead. “I told you I can't make that happen, but I understand. You still love Robert. For the wrong reasons maybe, but you love him. But don't worry, I can make your pain go away. With a simple touch, I can erase all your memories of Robert...”

Isabel smacked Michael's hand away angrily. “Don't you dare! All of my best memories, including my memories of Robbie, involve Robert! Taking those memories away would be like taking away my soul! Besides, taking away my memories of Robert wouldn't made my pain go away. I was in pain before I met Robert! I was scared, and alone, and unloved. And even though our relationship started out as an affair, and he added to my pain in the short run, I wouldn't undue a second of my relationship to Robert, because in the end, he was the one that brought love and happiness into my life! And I know that no matter how nice this place is, no matter how many luxuries or pleasures there are to experience in this so-called 'Good Place', this will never be a good place for me if I'm not with Robert Queen, whether or not I'm allowed to remember him. Because no matter who you tell me my soulmate is, I will never be happy with him or her...unless that person is Robert.”

Michael's eyes looked almost, but not quite, sad as he shook his head. “I wish I could help you. But like I said, my hands are tied. I can't force you to forget Robert if you don't want to...although I'd wager you'll change your mind on that score within a century or so. Everyone here with a loved one in the Bad Place eventually does. But I can't bring Robert to the Good Place, either. Even at the cost of your own soul. It's out of my hands. I'm sorry.”

Isabel nodded. “I understand.”

Michael half-smiled and said. “Good. I'm glad you've accepted the reality of the situation. Now I can give you a tour of the Good Place! With time, I'm sure you'll grow to love living here!”

Isabel shook her head as she dried her tears. “No, I won't. Because I won't be living here.”

The brunette looked Michael straight in the eyes and said. “If you can't bring Robert to the Good Place, send me to be with him in the Bad Place. Please.”

Michael's jaw almost dropped. “Oh...um, nobody's ever asked for that before. I mean, some of the best people in the Good Place have asked to trade places with a loved one in the Bad Place, but nobody asked to go to the Bad Place without getting something in return.. I...I think you don't realize what you're asking. People in the Bad Place are always suffering! Everyone there is in constant pain! I can get my assistant to play you an audio recording of the screams of the damned to show you what I'm talking about...”

Isabel shook her head calmly. “There's no need for that. Nothing you do, say, or show me will change my mind. I want to be with Robert Queen, my lover, my best friend, my husband, and my soul-mate, for all of eternity, no matter where that happens! I will not, I cannot, let him suffer alone! Besides, no matter how much we suffer, if Robert and I are allowed to suffer together, that will never be a bad place to us!”

Michael rubbed the top of his head. “Is this what a migraine feels like? I think it must be. Fine then. I”ll have to make a call to someone in Upper Management to see if you can be sent to Robert in the Bad Place. Decisions like this are way above my level.”

Isabel shrugged and remained seated. “Go ahead. I'm not in a hurry. All I have to look forward to when you are done is an eternity of suffering, after all.”

Michael mumbled something like, “Why do humans have to be so difficult?!” under his breath, before he made a quick phone call and explained the situation to his boss. Isabel only heard Michael's end of the conversation, so she was very confused when Michael got the point where he said. “Really, he asked for that too?! And he also doesn't know that he's not in the real...That's remarkable! But do you really think that...I hope not too! That kind of thing hasn't happened in centuries, since Tristan and...” Michael sighed. “Yes, I know the rules. You have to contact the appropriate authorities to see if Isabel and Robert are actually where they are supposed to be. Yes, I'll hold.”

Isabel shook her head. “What's going on?!”

Michael glared at Isabel. “We'll find out soon enough! All I will tell you right now is that you and Robert Queen might just be a lot more trouble than you're worth! As if Eleanor and her friends don't cause me enough problems! I really hate my job sometimes!”

The phone rang again less than a minute later. Several minutes after Michael picked it up, his face fell. “Are you sure? Fork! Okay, I guess there's nothing for it. I'll tell her if you'll tell him, and they'll be on the first train out shortly. Dang it!”

After hanging up the phone again, Michael sighed heavily. “Okay, so here's the deal...This isn't the real Good Place, and I'm not an angel. I'm what you might think of as a demon, and this the Bad Place, or one section of it, that I designed to look like the Good Place in order to psychologically torture you and four other people. This community is a prototype. First of it's kind. Robert was in the second fake 'Good Place' we created. Like you, he was told he was in the real Good Place and that you were in the Bad Place...”

Isabel's eyes widened. “That's just forked up! And diabolical! So, wait, you're telling me neither me, nor Robert, were good enough to get into the Good Place?! Why are you telling me this now, and....”

Micheal held up his right hand. “Stop. I'll explain everything now, but you'll have to listen carefully.. Suffice it to say, neither you, nor Robert's motives were entirely pure during your philanthropic endeavors, so it was decided that both of you belonged in the Bad Place. Luckily for you two, it has recently, as in, within the last five minutes, been decided by the powers that be, that this decision was made in error. So both of you are going to be going to the real Good Place after all. Yipee skipee for you two. Walk with me. If you have more questions, ask them on the way to the train to the Good Place...and to Robert. Please hurry.”

Isabel smiled, but, deciding that she wanted to annoy Michael, who was obviously in a hurry, Isabel transformed herself into an 800 pound, barely mobile, but still youthful, version of herself. Isabel's thighs rubbed together and her huge belly, large overhanging breasts, back fat, and beach ball sized ass cheeks all jiggled simultaneously as the super-sized brunette huffed and puffed while following Michael out of the room. The fat brunette smiled, accentuating her three chins and the dimples on her chubby cheeks as she panted. “Wait for me. I'm going as fast as I can.”

Michael glared at Isabel. “What are you doing in that ridiculous form? I told you to hurry!'

Isabel just kept grinning as she slowly waddled after Michael. “And I told you that I like being fat! In fact, since I'm going to the real Good Place now, supposedly, I think I'm going to stay fat for all of eternity! I like being built for comfort, not for speed!”

Michael groaned. “Fine. Hurry as fast as that fat ace of yours can go then! It's not like you could have waited until you got to the real Good Place to become a chunkster or anything. Hay, you could even show off your fat ace in public there, if you want!”

Isabel looked thoughtful as she slowly exited the small building her and Michael had been talking in. “You mean public nudity is allowed in the real Good Place!? What about swearing?”

Michael shrugged. “Anything you want to do. There's no jealousy or embarrassment in the Good Place, so nobody cares if you waddle around naked all the time, and nobody gets offended if you curse like a sailor. People just become...better there. I can't explain it. But you'll see for yourself soon.”

Isabel shrugged. “How will I know this place I'm about to go is the real Good Place, and not another fake...”

Michael stopped walking for a minute, and Isabel almost collided with the man when he turned back towards Isabel and whispered. “Believe me, you'll know. When you reach the Shining City....There are no words to describe it, but if I was hard pressed, I would say it feels like coming back to a perfect, loving home that you had forgotten you had until the moment you step inside the Good Place. It's a place filled with people that love you, and you suddenly realize you love them in return. A huge family of billions who have just been waiting to welcome you to join them in an eternity of endless bliss. It is all the love, warmth, kindness, and goodness that you have ever felt or experienced, magnified to the power of Infinity. The Good Place has a kind of perfection that leaves it's mark on you forever...even if you try to forget.”

Michael suddenly turned away from Isabel then, but not before the brunette saw the demon shed a single tear. In that moment, for the first time, Isabel felt pity for her would-be tormentor. “You've been there before. You used to live in the Good Place. And you miss it.”

Michael nodded, but resumed walking as he quietly said. “Yes. All demons used to live there, before we were cast out, for reasons too complicated to go into right now. And of course I forking miss it! How could I not miss that kind of perfection?!”

Isabel sighed. “Well then, have you thought about maybe...trying to get back in? Trying to, you know, be nice to people, instead of torturing them?”

Michael shook his head. “If it were only that simple. I've been a demon for so long, I don't know if I even know how to be nice to people a....”

“Hey, Michael! Who's the new chunkster?!”

The blonde-haired woman who had interrupted Michael walked up to the demon and Isabel wearing a black jacket, a plain white top, dark blue jeans, and sneakers. The blonde was walking arm in arm with an exotic looking woman with dark hair, who was wearing a tasteful, but sexy, white dress, and matching white heels.. The latter party turned to the blonde woman and said. “Stop saying things like that, honey! You're embarrassing me!”

Michael smiled at the lesbian couple, and Isabel noted his smile seemed to be genuine, even as the demon's voice suddenly seemed to whisper inside Isabel's head, warning her not to tell the couple they were in the Bad Place, or he would wipe their memories, before the brunette spoke to the dark-haired woman. “Don't worry about it. As you can see...”Isabel patted her huge belly playfully. “I have pretty thick skin. I can take whatever your girlfriend dishes out.”

The blonde woman smirked at Isabel. “Nice to see someone around here can be a big girl about a little bit of light teasing. That seems appropriate, considering you are a very, very big girl and all!”

Isabel shrugged. “Only because I choose to be, twig.” Isabel changed back into her slender form for a full second, just long enough for the couple in front of her to realize Isabel could be thin if she wanted to be, then changed back into her 800 pound form and smirked. “I just like being fat! Having a bigger stomach means I can enjoy more delicious food in one sitting, and my large, soft body is really comfortable too. My husband and I also find that being fat is great for our love life! Oh, and I don't know if Michael told you this before, but people can shapeshift here! You and your girlfriend should try out being 'chunksters' when you're alone together sometime!”

The blonde-haired woman and her exotic girlfriend looked at each other for an uncomfortably long moment , then turned back to Isabel. The blonde woman opened her mouth to say something snarky, Isabel supposed, before the dark-haired woman smiled and said. “Oh, we definitely well! I've always wondered how it would feel to be with a bigger girl! And the idea of getting fat myself after a lifetime of staying in shape sounds delightfully naughty!”

Everyone ignored the blonde's facial expressions, as they went from disbelief, to deep thought, to carefully examining her girlfriend's figure, obviously trying to decide if she would like having a lot more of her girlfriend to love, and finally turned into a lecherous grin as she decided that her girlfriend becoming temporarily super-sized would probably be fun, as the exotic girl carried on a short conversation with Isabel and Michael. “I'm sorry for my soulmate's rudeness. She's a little rough around the edges, but I promise you she has a heart of gold once you really get to know her! She's also smart, and funny, and just my everything, and....” The exotic looking woman laughed, even as Isabel smiled because the two women before her had apparently found happiness with each other, making a heaven of hell in the Bad Place, even as the exotic looking woman recovered herself and said, “I'm so sorry, where are my manners?! My name is Tahani! I can see you've already met Michael, and my slightly uncouth soulmate over here...” Tahani pointed towards the blonde. “Is named Eleanor.”

Isabel remembered Michael mentioning that a woman named Eleanor was a thorn in his side, before Eleanor quickly drew her girlfriend into a brief kiss that it was obvious both women wanted to last a lot longer, but Tahani drew away from with a frown after three seconds, just before Eleanor smiled at her girlfriend and said. “That's my name, babe! Don't wear it out!”

The blonde put her hand out towards Isabel and said. “Put her there, stranger!”

Isabel smiled and shook Eleanor's hand, then did the same to Tahani. “Pleased to meet you both! My name is Isabel! Pardon me for saying so, Eleanor and Tahani, but I can already tell that you two are perfect for each other! I'm glad that you've found happiness together in this place!”

Michael flinched at Isabel's words, but neither member of the lesbian couple noticed this, and Eleanor just nodded at Isabel's words and smiled. “ Oh yeah, the Good Place is great, and Tahani is even better! I'll admit that this place took a little getting used to for me, seeing as they put me in a freaky clown home before I moved into Tahani's mansion, and Tahani and I couldn't stand each other at first, because I thought she was self-righteous, selfish, and stuck up....”

Tahani laughed softly and added. “And I thought Eleanor was poorly educated, rude, and boorish. But eventually my soul mate and I...”

The exotic woman and her white girlfriend held each other's hands again and smiled. “Realized that we had a lot more in common then we thought, and we became friends. Then friendship turned to love, and...” Tahani gave Eleanor a saucy grin before she turned back to Isabel and said. “And I'm sure you can guess the rest.”

Isabel smiled. “I'm sure I can! Keep it it up you two! I wish you both all the happiness in the universe!”

Tahani grinned. “Thank you! That is so nice! Isn't that nice, Eleanor!?”

Eleanor shrugged, but her smile and happiness in her eyes showed her appreciation for Isabel's words even as she said. “Yep. Just great.”

Michael cleared his throat. “I'm afraid Isabel has to go now, ladies. There was a bit of a mix-up, and wouldn't you know it?! Isabel was put in the wrong Good Place neighborhood! She was supposed to be sent to a nearby community, where her husband and soulmate, Robert, is. Her train departs in another half-hour.”

Eleanor and Tahani both frowned before the former said. “That's too bad! You seem more fun than most of the goody-two shoes in this place!” Tahani nodded and said. “And I didn't even get to invite you to one of my famous parties!”

Eleanor nodded. “And that is a shame! My soulmate can throw a mean party! And her shrimp is to die for. Oh, wait, you already did!”

Isabel shrugged in response to Eleanor's sudden burst of laughter. “That's okay.”

Tahani shook her head. “It most certainly is not! Nobody good enough to get into any Good Place community should have to go without experiencing a Tahani party at least once! I know...”

Tahani pointed towards Michael. “You can help me arrange a huge inter-community party for all the residents of the Good Place! That way all the good people in the afterlife, including Isabel and Robert, can attend! What do you think, Michael?!”

Michael gulped. “Um, that sounds like a pretty tall order, to get all of those people in one place, but I'll do my best...”

Isabel smirked at Michael. “I do hope you can arrange that party soon! I would love to introduce Robert to my new friends!”

Michael was barely able to suppress a glare at Isabel as he cleared his throat and looked at his watch. “Oh, look at the time! Isabel and I have to be off now! I'll see you two soon, Eleanor and Tahani!”

“It was so nice to meet you both! Hope to see you again soon!” Isabel shook the other women's hands again.

Michael sighed as he lead Isabel away from the happy couple, but Isabel was all smiles as she turned around for a second, long enough to see Eleanor and Tahani's breasts, butts, and bellies start expanding just before they engaged each other in a major lip-lock as they held each other close for a moment, then fell on the ground, and out of Isabel's view, behind a nearby tree just as the lesbians' faces and limbs started to expand as well. Michael was looking at the ground as he continued walking while speaking. “Those two have been a problem for me for months now. I lied and told them they were each other's soulmates because their personalities are...were so different, I thought they would hate each other and be at each others throats. And they were...at first. But then, impossibly, over time, those two started getting along. Then, all of the sudden, they fell in love, and Eleanor and Tahani went from complaining about each other to me all the time, to thanking me for pairing them. And they've been sickeningly happy together ever since.”

Isabel just listened with a thoughtful look on her face, letting Michael continue to lead the way before he resumed speaking. “The other two human souls that were brought here are as big a problem. One of them, a DJ from Jacksonville named Jason, did a lot of bad stuff to get here. Eleanor's sins in life were always selfishness and lack of empathy. Tahani's were pride and never forgiving her parents, or her older sister, for their parents loving her sister more, but Jason...there are few crimes against the powers that be, or humans, that Jason hasn't committed, short of murder. He's a mess...”

Michael sighed. “And he's also an absolute moron. To the point that I don't even know how he ended up here in the Bad Place.”

Isabel raised an eyebrow. “You mean, hay...I mean, the Bad Place, isn't supposed to have stupid people in it?”

Michael shook his head as he kept walking. “No, we have plenty of people in the Bad Place who are stupid by virtue of being willfully ignorant, and having brains they choose not to use. But all mentally challenged or otherwise cognitively impaired individuals are supposed to go to the Good Place when they die, no matter what their crimes were in life. Which is why there are far fewer serial killers in the Bad Place than you might think. One of the few bureaucratic victories that the Good Place had over my kind was that they successfully argued to the powers that be that people who don't have the mental capacity to either know right from wrong, or make intelligent, well-thought out decisions, shouldn't be punished for their bad choices for all of eternity. And I'm not quite sure that Jason doesn't fall into the latter category. Which is why I sometimes question his place here...”

Isabel continued following Michael, and the huge woman was struggling again as rhe man's pace quickened. “It sounds like you ...huff....feel sorry for...puff...him.”

Michael shook his head and let out a strained laugh. “I would...If he hadn't just married my robot assistant, Janet, behind my back. Again.”

Isabel shook her head. “Robot....puff...assistant? Again?”

Michael shrugged. “It's a long story.” The demon then came to a stop right in front of the train station, which had a black screen hanging over it with blinking red letters scrolling across it, which announced that the train would be delayed for at least another half hour. Michael sighed heavily. “Of course. I don't know why I expected otherwise. The trains are never on time, no matter which part of the Bad Place one lives in!”

After Isabel and Michael sat down at a nearby bench in front of the train tracks, and Isabel had a few seconds to catch her breath, Isabel gave Michael a cheeky grin and said. “That must drive Mussolini crazy!”

Michael actually burst out laughing at that. “Indeed it does! We actually made him the conductor of our slowest moving train, just to drive him mad!”

Isabel laughed along, until Michael's face turned serious again before he said. “Almost as crazy as this place...this community, seems to be making me! Everything has been going wrong recently! Eleanor and Tahani are happy together, Jason is ecstatic to be married to Janet, even though Janet can't feel love, as far as I know. Even Chidi, the other human here, who caused all his friends and loved ones no end to grief with his inability to make decisions in life, and one of the demons that is supposed to be torturing him, fell in love! And now those two are having a 'secret' relationship...” Michael put air quotes around the word 'secret' before he added, “That everyone knows about because Chidi is a terrible liar! And I know what I should do. I should have the rogue demon punished for fraternizing with a human, wipe everyone's memories, and set up a new scenario to torture the humans, but...I just can't bear to do it for some reason. The worst I can bring myself to do is whip out is the occasional weird event, like an invasion of cows with guns, or a natural disaster, but since nobody can die here, injuries heal really quickly, and even major property renovations only last a day or so...that really isn't very impressive. I don't know...I guess I'm not a very good demon.”

Isabel nodded. “I agree. If you care so much about the people you are supposed to be torturing that you can't bring yourself to split them all off from the ones they love, then you aren't a very good demon. But perhaps that means you would make a very good angel. If you really wanted to be again.”

Michael shrugged, his face expressionless as he said. “Maybe.”

Over a minute passed in thoughtful silence before Isabel said. “I noticed something before. You told Eleanor and Tahani that Robert is my soulmate, even though you told me earlier that was impossible because...”

“Because that relationship started out as an affair that never should have happened. That last part was correct. But what I didn't know when I said that was that Robert Queen was your soulmate, but that the powers that be made a teeny, tiny mistake that caused your relationship with that man to start after he was already married to someone else.”

Isabel glared at Michael. “And what teeny, tiny mistake would that be?”

Michael sighed. “The powers that be...again, not me, accidentally arranged for you to be born later than you were supposed to be. Something about a clerical error...”

Isabel huffed as she crossed her wide arms in front of her huge breasts. “That's must have been some clerical error! Did you know that I actually did some digging through the records of the Russian orphanage that raised me, and I found out that my birth parents gave me up because my father was dying of lung cancer when I was born, and my mother was in her late forties, and didn't think she would live long enough to take care of me? If I had been born sooner...”

Michael nodded. “You probably would have had a better childhood, being raised by your birth parents, yes. But the important thing, in this instance, is that, somehow, you still would have ended up moving to America, much sooner than you did in the actual timeline. You would have met Robert Queen soon afterwards, when you were both young, and he was a dreamer who was just starting a small business called Queen Consolidated. According to information I received from my boss, this turn of events would have resulted in you marrying Robert Queen before he even met Moira, who would remain just a friend and colleque to Robert, while Moira married her soulmate, Walter Steele. All four of you would have been great friends. Anyway, you and Robert would have had three children. One would have been a lot like, but not exactly, Oliver Queen, another would have been similar to Thea, and your third child, a surprise from later in your and Robert's life together, would have been...”

“Robbie.” Isabel finished with a smile.

Michael nodded again. “Exactly. The alternate Oliver and Thea would still have ended up with Sara Lance and Roy Harper, respectfully, and Robert Jr. would still have married Sophia. More importantly, at least for our discussion, however, your relationship with Robert having an earlier start would have changed almost everything about both of your adult lives. Robert wouldn't have had any affairs, because you are his soulmate, and he loved you too much to ever cheat on you, Ditto for you, obviously.”

Isabel nodded. “Obviously.”

Michael continued speaking as if Isabel hadn't interrupted him. “The unfortunate accident with the city council member would have still happened, resulting in Robert working with Tempest for a time. But, since you and Robert would have had such a good relationship, your husband would have trusted you enough to tell you about Malcolm Merlyn's Undertaking as soon as he knew about it. You would have responded by hiring someone to kill Malcolm, in order to protect both your husband and the Glades. This individual, an assassin know as Deadshot, would have succeeded in killing Malcolm, thus preventing the Undertaking, and saving hundreds to thousands of people, including your husband.”

Isabel smirked. “So, in this alternate timeline, would having Malcolm killed have counted against my karma points or helped them?”

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Helped them, off course! You might as well ask me if someone would have gotten positive or negative karma points for having Hitler killed ! Anyway, despite your good reasons for having Malcolm killed, you would have felt bad about doing so, and would have started a worldwide charity, similar to the one you founded in the actual timeline, alongside Robert Queen, to make up for being complicit in murder. This chain of events would have easily netted both you and Robert enough points to get into the Good Place. Especially since neither you, nor Robert, would have had any affairs in that timeline, or directly killed anyone.

Because you being born late was the head office's mistake, they are accepting responsibility for the changes to yours and your husband's karma points, and they are allowing both you and Robert to get into the Good Place together. I just hope this doesn't cause a review of the entire point system, or...”

Isabel shook her head. “I don't care about any of that bureaucratic nonsense. What I want to know is how you found out that me and Robert were supposed to be in the Good place, and how and when something like this has happened before! You mentioned someone on the phone, Tristan and...”

Michal nodded. “Tristan and Isolde. They were another couple, in your Middle Ages, I think, who were accidentally made to be born in the wrong circumstances, leading to two soulmates having an affair that should never have been necessary for them to be together in the first place. The same thing happened in ancient times to Helen and Paris....”

Isabel's eyes widened. “Wait...you meant THE Helen and Paris?! The ones from the Iliad?!'

Michael nodded. “The very same. Helen was supposed to have been married to Paris of Troy originally, instead of....”

Isabel laughed uncontrollably for several seconds. When the rotund brunette was done doing so, she shook her head and said. “I'm sorry. It's just so terrible that it's funny! Are you telling me the Trojan War occurred because the powers that be made a clerical error, resulting in an armed conflict that caused the deaths of hundreds?”

Michael smirked and shook his head as well. “Thousands! I'm sure a lot of heads rolled over that mistake. I imagine the same thing is going to happen when this mess with you and Robert is sorted out, since the Undertaking would have never happened if you and Robert had gotten together at the right time!”

Isabel nodded, then smiled. “But...I was right, all those years? Robert Queen really is my soulmate?'

Michael sighed. “Yes.”

Isabel's smile widened. “So, my whole relationship with Robert, even when we were having an affair, wasn't wrong then?!”

Michael shook his head, then shrugged. “Yes. No. Kinda. Honestly, it's complicated. According to the point system, your affair with Robert was wrong, yes. But even the point system has...counterbalances, for extreme and unusual circumstances. It has been decided that none of Robert Queen's affairs, nor any of the people he killed after the wreck of the Queen's Gambit, will count against him, because none of that ever should have happened. Same thing for your dealings with Slade Wilson and Stellmoore International. Also, on a more personal note, you and Robert's affair won't count against you because...well, when soulmates meet, which they often don't during their mortal lifetime, but when they do...they physically can't stay away from each other, or keep from falling in love. You and Robert had an affair because, given the circumstances, you two had no real choice in the matter. Soulmates are like physics that way, as inevitable as gravity.”

Isabel smile widened even further. “That's what I thought. I've always known in my heart that Robert and I were right for each other, and that we couldn't help but fall into each others arms when we did because we were so in love. But it's nice to finally have my experiences validated. However, that still doesn't answer...”

Michael slumped his shoulders as he said. “How we found out you and Robert were soulmates who didn't belong in the Bad Place? That's simple. As I said, you volunteering to go to the Bad Place to be with Robert...that kind of thing had never happened before today. And yet...when Robert, in his own fake Good Place, was told you were in the Bad Place...he asked for the exact same thing...to be with you in the Bad Place. And when one act that selfless, much less two, occurs in the Bad Place, well...demons like me are required to double check to make sure the person who committed that selfless act wasn't supposed to go to the Good Place. Because, obviously, mistakes do happen on that front, albeit very rarely. So me and my counterpart in the other fake Good Place checked with the main office, which is neutral territory, between the Bad and Good Place, and it turned out that not only were you and Robert supposed to be in the Good Place, you were also soulmates.”

Isabel nodded, but before she could think of anything else to say, a train was rapidly pulling into the station in front of her and Michael, blowing it's horn as it did so. When the large black train had fully pulled into the station, two men got out. The first was an 700 pound, young-looking Robert Queen, who had blonde-hair and a beard once again. The other was a stern-looking individual with brown hair and eyes that seemed to be constantly changing color, from red, to blue, to green, to brown, then back to red, every few seconds. And those eyes were glaring right at Michael as he got out of the train car, passing Isabel and Robert without a look as he did so.

Despite the strange eyes of the second individual, however, Isabel only had eyes for Robert, as her and the large man walked/waddled towards each other as quickly as their fat bodies would allow them to, and Robert and Isabel quickly held each other close for several seconds as they both wept cheers of joy and started talking simultaneously several times, a process which caused both members of the plump couple to laugh now and then. “I though I'd lost...” I believed that you were...” “Are you okay?” Are you alright?!” “Did they hear about...” Did you hear we actually are...”

Finally, after Isabel and Robert laughed for several seconds, Robert smiled and said. “You go first, honey.”

Isabel shook her head. “It doesn't matter. We'll have all of eternity to talk now. I just love you so much, and I'm just glad that we're both okay, and that we really can be together forever...”

Robert smiled. “Me too...”

The blonde man's smile dimmed somewhat, and Isabel picked up on it. “What's wrong?”

Robert shook his head. “It's just. They told me during the train ride here that Moira was in the Bad Place because she committed suicide. And...I know I haven't ever been in love with her, and that you are my soulmate, but it still doesn't feel great knowing that I get to go to the Good Place while...”

Isabel nodded in understanding and replied. “The mother of two of your children has to be in the Bad Place? I'm so sorry, Robert. I really do wish that there was something we could do for her...”

“You already did.” The man with the strange eyes said while still glaring at Michael. “After this third mishap with soulmate couples since the founding of the Good Place, it was decided that an internal review of the sorting process for souls in the afterlife was in order. During that exhaustive review session, which took me an entire thirty seconds, an eternity for someone who can move and think as fast as I do...it was discovered that the Bad Place had been gaming the point system in their favor to get more souls for centuries now. Upon further examination of the Bad Place, It was discovered that, instead of trying to help people in the Bad Place do penance and make peace with their sins on Earth, so they could eventually go to the Good Place, the administrators of the Bad Place choose to simply torture the souls in their care. Therefore, effectively immediately, the powers that be have decided to scrap the Bad Place entirely!”

Michael and the Queens all looked at the weird-eyed man, but it was Michael who spoke next. “Oh. Um...not to contradict you, your magnificence, but I'm wondering... where will all the souls in the Bad Place go then? And what will happen to demons, like, you know, me?”

The weird man stared at Michael for several seconds, then looked towards Isabel and Robert Queen and said. “Their will be a revaluation of the entire soul sorting system, a process which, unfortunately, could take years. In the meantime, all of the violent, or otherwise obviously demented human souls will be placed in a quarantine area that has already been completed, which will contain, but not punish, those individuals ...”

Isabel smiled, once again showing off her chins as she interrupted the strange man. “Wow. It sounds like you and the other angels...celestials...whatever, work really fast! Don't you...Mr....?”

The strange man grinned. “Thank you. We try. But I'm afraid my name is too long and complicated to be pronounced by a human tongue, so I won't be giving it to you. Anyway, as I was saying, all other human souls, including Moira Queen, will be put in the Good Place until it can properly be determined which souls go where. Furthermore, all souls who were tortured in the Bad Place will have all of their unpleasant memories of the Bad Place wiped to preserve their sanity. During this trial period, it will still be possible for souls outside the quarantine to gain more karma points so they can remain in the Good Place forever. Once the karma point system is revamped, every human soul will either be allowed to remain in the Good Place, as we already know will be the case for you and your husband, or they will go into a new place we celestials are now in the process of creating. A place where, under celestial supervision, people can be cured of any mental health problem, disordered patterns of behavior, or any other maladies that kept them from living righteous lives on Earth, until they are worthy of salvation. Then they will be allowed to dwell forever in the Good Place, which has always been the final destiny of every soul: celestial, human, or demon. Speaking of which...”

The strange man turned his ever-changing eyes towards Michael. “Your kind have a lot to answer for! After the initial rebellion, you, and all other fallen celestials, were given the opportunity to redeem yourselves by restoring fallen human souls to make them worthy of entering the Good Place. But by and large, your kind has willfully failed at this task. Therefore, most of your kind will be put into quarantine with the more violent human souls for at least a century, depending on all of your individual levels of guilt. Only then will these demons be allowed to fulfill their original purpose to help redeem human souls in order to gain reentry into the Good Place themselves.”

Michael gulped. “I see. Well, I guess I can clear my calendar for at least the next century, then.”

The strange man smiled again. “Actually, Michael, you and the demon they call 'the real Eleanor' are special cases. Therefore, both of you will be allowed to resume rehabilitating human souls immediately. This is because not only did neither of you fight directly in the rebellion against the Good Place, you have also both unwittingly caused more good than harm to the humans in your charge by accidentally uniting them with their true soulmates and choosing not to wipe their memories afterwards.”

Michael's jaw actually dropped, and it took several seconds for him to recover. “So you're saying that Eleanor and Tahani really are soul mates? Wow. Even Janet and Jason? I didn't even know that Janet had a soul!”

The strange man smirked. “Every sentient and sapient living thing has a soul, Michael, even robots. And Janet does love Jason in her own way. Therefore, both of the couples you just mentioned will be allowed to stay together in the Reeducation Place, if they don't earn enough points during the trial period to stay in the Good Place, first. And the one you call the 'real Eleanor', the first demon to have a human soulmate, will be allowed to stay with Chidi, as long as she does not neglect the other human souls put into her care. Furthermore, Michael, you are being offered the chance to be the head of the same section of the Reeducation place as the individuals I just mentioned will be placed in…alongside you celestial soulmate, who you will be allowed to meet later today. Do you accept this position?”

Michael nodded. “Yes! I absolutely will! It will be nice to be able to help the only humans I've ever liked instead of hurting them, after all. And to meet my soulmate! I better go pack my bags!”

After Michael ran off, the strange man motioned Robert and Isabel towards the train. “I have a lot of business to take care of here while closing off the Bad Place, so I must stay for now. But it is past time you two went to the Good Place! The train is automatic. Once you are both on board it will safely take you to the Good Place.”

The couple thanked the strange man, then Robert quickly stepped onto the train and held out his chubby hand towards Isabel, who took it with a smile. Once the couple was onboard the train, the large vehicle immediately took off a a brisk, but not terrifyingly fast, clip. Robert and Isabel held each other close and took in the scenery as they whizzed past a desert, then miles of farmland, and finally, the greenest, most beautiful looking pasture they had ever laid eyes upon. It was then that the couple first laid eyes on the real Good Place, sitting on top of the only mountain in sight, where the train tracks ended. Isabel couldn't help but cry at the sight of the beautiful, shining white city, or the feelings of joy, love and hope that seemed to radiate from the place the train was rapidly approaching. As Isabel and Robert's train finally pulled into the city, and the couple was overwhelmed by all of the good feelings radiating from the humans and celestials in the Good Place, the brunette couldn't help but think that Michael's words hadn't done such a wonderful place justice...and that their was no one she would rather share this place with than the man she loved with all her heart. And so it was that the the first time the denizens of the Good Place laid eyes upon Robert and Isabel Queen, they were kissing.

When Robert and Isabel pulled out of their kiss, the latter smiled at her soulmate and said. “Now, let's go enjoy our never-ending last holiday, dear husband!”

Robert laughed. “Yes! Let's do just that! After all, I couldn't imagine a happier ending for both of us!”

And indeed, Robert and Isabel Queen, and eventually, everybody else, lived happily forever after.

NOTHING EVER ENDS!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this rather strange story, and the surprise crossover at the end, with a very different idea for how things could have gone around "the Good Place " s2, which doesn'r necessarily jive with my ideas of the afterlife, but it was great show, imho. Anyway, it is my profound hope and belief  
> that everyone will someday have a happy ending kind of like the one at the end of this story (minus the fat element, unless that's your thing, too). And that goes the same for you reader. whether your beliefs are similar, or very different than mine. Or even if you don't have any spiritual beliefs at all. Because i firmly believe that, whoever you are, and whatever you've done, you are a person with value, and you deserve to be loved forever. And on that cheerfully (and probably overly sappy note), I bid you farewell for now. Until next time, just remember...
> 
> Some Like it Fat!


End file.
